Valka's Apprentice
by Stormdragonrider
Summary: AU. Valka wasn't the only one to be carried off by a dragon. Cloudjumper brings in a young child one day, a child Valka decides to raise as her own. But years later, both of their pasts catch up to them. PS: OC ADMISSIONS FOR NEXT STORY ARE NOW CLOSED.
1. Act 1: An Unexpected Visitor

**Hello, trying my hand at writing a How To Train Your Dragon Fanfic. In fact, trying my hand at my first fanfic. Let me know what you guys think of it. Do you love it? Do you hate it? Guess i'll find out.**

**Enjoy.**

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The night was lit up by fire. From a distance, the island looked like a gigantic torch, a point of flickering light in the vast ocean of blackness. Still, to the inhabitants, the sight was a common one.

A very common one.

In the village perched on the islands cliffs, people ran this way and that, hoisting weapons of every description as they fought to protect their homes. Swords and axes sang as the tore through the smoke-filled air. Bolas and arrows whirled and whistled as their wielders launched them up into the darkness, sometimes hitting, but many times missing.

This was Berk, an island at war with dragons.

There was hardly a building in the village that was not in flames, or at least about to be. The dragons came in from every angle of attack, lighting up the night with their fiery breath and crushing wooden houses with long, vicious talons. Fortunately, most of the villagers were out fighting, lashing out at the winged beasts as they swooped in low. Everyone else was holed up inside the giant stony structure of the Great Hall, calmly waiting for the fighters to drive off the nuisance. After all, dragon attacks were common enough.

But there was one person who was neither out fighting beside the warriors, nor inside the safety of the Great Hall. The little girl was still inside her house, which was rapidly nearing the point of collapse. She was coughing violently, struggling to look for some escape through eyes that stung so very much. She beyond simple fear at that point. For the first time in short life, the girl realized that she was going to die.

Fate had other ideas.

The girl felt the floor beneath her give way. She felt the heat of the flames begin to bite at her skin. She tried to draw in breath for one last instinctive screams, but she took in a mouthful of smoke instead. And so she fell.

Something wrapped around the girls arms, but she was hardly conscious enough to register the fact. Whatever it was, it was lifting her up….and up, and up, and up! The girl wondered if she was being carried all the way to Valhalla. When she finally regained her senses, however, she realized that her nightmare was not yet over.

It was a dragon. A massive, fire-spitting, man-eating dragon.

It was way too much for the young girl to take in. Her screams pierced the air of the burning village for an instant before she fainted away.

* * *

"Where is he?" Valka said to herself. In her years spent living with no one to talk to but dragons, she had developed the habit of speaking her thoughts out loud, just so she could remember that she was human. It was also a comfort for her, a way of holding onto her past.

She was currently wandering through the dragon sanctuary of the Alpha Bewilderbeast, picking her way carefully through the masses of sleeping dragons. Indeed, Valka herself would have been sleeping, but for the fact that one dragon in particular dragon was missing.

Cloudjumper, the Stormcutter whom she preferred to ride on more than any other dragon, was nowhere to be found. Normally, such a thing wouldn't have bothered her, for Cloundjumper would often come and go as he pleased. He was a friend, after all, not a pet.

Still, Valka hadn't seen Cloudjumper all day, and with the recent increase of dragon trappers hunting the icy waters of the Archipelago, she was beginning to think something had happened to him.

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind, however, than she saw the familiar shape of her dragon gliding into the sanctuary. Valka let out a sigh of relief, instantly turning to make for the small cave that the two of them slept in.

She was in for a surprise.

* * *

The dragons had finally let up on their attack. As always, the dragons fled as the sun worked it's slow way over the distant horizon. It was only then that the Vikings had a chance to fully regroup, assess their losses, and count their dead.

Standing before the ruins of a blacked husk that had once been her home, a woman, sobbed into her hands, whispering the worlds "my little girl" over and over through the tears. Off to the side, watching his poor wife, was a man, trying to hold back his tears for the sake of his young son, who kept asking his dad where his sister was.

There was not a person on Berk unfamiliar with death. The death of a loved one, the of family, or the death of a friend. Yet accepting those deaths never got any easier. And so the the village gathered around the grieving mother, bowing their heads, praying that the soul of the young girl would be accepted into Valhalla.

As the woman knelt in front of her destroyed home, she clutched something small to her chest. A small necklace, set with a tiny blue gemstone, a gift she had given to her daughter on her ninth birthday, only days before. Clutching it until she feared it might shatter, the woman let wail of grief, screaming at the gods that would so take her little girl from her.

Such was the cost of war.

* * *

Valka was stunned to the point of speechlessness. After she reunited with Cloudjumper, she was shocked to find out that he had not come back from his little escapade empty handed, or rather empty clawed. She had seen that he was carrying something in his claws when she had entered the cave in which they slept, but she had assumed it was just something he had brought back to the nest to eat.

Instead, he brought back a human girl.

Valka studied the unconscious girl, who was now sprawled out across the floor of the small, rocky enclosure. She couldn't have been more than ten years old, though it was hard to make out much of her through the layers of soot and ash that covered her. Her hair was a soft golden colour, and she was of rather slender build. Beneath the covering of ashes, the skin of her face was pale, and her breath was raspy and uneven.

It took a moment for Valka to begin to react at all, though when she did she moved quickly. Valka picked up the small girl and placed her on her on her own bed, which was really no more than a collection of furs stacked on top of each other. Then she ran over to a deeper part of the cave and fetched a few dry leaves that had been stored their earlier. With practiced motions, she began mashing up the leaves in a small bowl of water, then brought that bowl over to the sleeping girl. In tiny, tiny sips, for Valka did not wish to chock the girl, she poured the mixture into the gir'ls mouth, a few drops at a time. The girl was able to swallow, mostly on reflex, and by the time the bowl was empty, she seemed to be breathing a little bit easier.

That done, Valka turned back to Cloundjumper.

"Where did you find her?" Valka asked, speaking in a soft whisper.

The dragon walked over to the makeshift stone table near the wall of the cave and began scratching at it with one of his claws.

Valka followed him over. On that table, Valka had carved out a rough map of the area that surrounded the dragon sanctuary. Names of a dozen or so islands were scrawled along the surface, and the one that Cloudjumper indicated was familiar indeed to Valka.

"Berk" she said softly. That one word brought back a host of memories for the woman. Memories of what she once was, what she was before…

She looked back at the girl.

Before she was kidnapped by a dragon.

Valka's first instinct was that she had to take the girl back to her family, but she discarded that idea before it came to fruition. A girl who is supposedly killed in a raid, then mysteriously comes back to life? Doing that would raise to many questions, and the girl would probably be in more danger from her fellow Vikings than any kind of dragon attack.

Valka thought of perhaps taking her to another village, somewhere where she could start over, where less would be known about her, and where hopefully, less questions would be asked. After she thought that over, though, she discarded that idea as well. The people of Berk might take someone in if they asked, but other Viking tribes were not nearly as friendly, from what Valka had observed. They would hardly be quick to accept a lost boy out of the goodness of their hearts, much less a girl. To them, such a child would only be another mouth to feed, and in a part of the world where food was less than bountiful as it was.

That left one option open to Valka, unless she wanted to simply abandon the girl in the wilderness, which she wouldn't do.

Valka could raise the girl herself.

At first, the idea sounded ludicrous to the dragon rider. Yes, she had lived here by herself for just over a decade, but it was no place to raise a child. Moreover, could this child even live with dragons? Would she paralyzed by her fear for them? Would she every be able to change?

Honestly, Valka didn't know. She had seen on Berk that Vikings were not people who changed their ways. Over and over, she had asked to stop the fighting. Over and over, she had been rebuffed. Despite the horror and loss of war, the people would not stop and look for a better answer. The dragon problem could only be solved with swords and axes, so they believed.

Yet, could one of the younger ones be taught different? Valka wondered. At this age, she probably was filled more with fear of dragons than hatred, but could Valka change that?

A part of her, a very large part of her, hoped that the answer would be yes.

"So be it" she said quietly. She turned back to look at the girl in the bed. "Tomorrow, we will see if you are different."

With that, she laid back against Cloudjumper, who had curled up and fallen asleep. Leaning against his warm scales, Valka drifted off into slumber.

* * *

**Wow, I was able to do that all in one sitting. Yay! I'll see how often I'll be able to update. The next one will hopefully be up by Monday of next week, but I am making no promises. Anyway, thanks for reading, and have a nice day!**


	2. Act 1: Saved BY a dragon

**Thanks for the follow I got for the last chapter. I've been pretty busy studying for exams this last week, and so I'm sorry I couldn't get the chapter up earlier. Well, when I can get the next chapter up depends on school, writer's block, and anything else that may get in my way. Anyway's on with the chapter.**

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It always surprised Valka just how warm it could be when you lived inside a cave made almost entirely of ice. There was little sunlight that managed to crawl its way through the great ice spires to reach the inside of the cavern, but the heat of all of the dragon bodies made the sanctuary comfortable, if not cozy.

All around the cavern, dragons were waking. Stretching the stiffness out of their bodies, they each rose to their feet before taking off, going through their daily routines with ease that came from day after day of repetition. But for one inhabitant of that particular sanctuary, this day was going to be anything but normal and routine.

Valka stretched the aches and weariness out of her muscles. Slowly, she stood up, holding onto Cloudjumper's side to support her as she stood up… wait, why was she sleeping with Cloudjumper?

Then she remembered.

Valka walked across the rooms to where the girl slept in the makeshift bed, moving quietly so as not to disturb her or Cloudjumper, both of who were still fast asleep. She was relieved to find that the girls breathing seemed have evened out.

Once again, Valka was overcome by her thoughts and feeling when she looked at the child. How could she keep a child away from its family? Surely every child deserved to be with their family, their parents. And yet, Valka knew all too well that sometimes that simply could not be.

What would people say if they found out this child had been saved by a dragon? Valka had seen the uncompromising viewpoint of the people on Berk. To them, dragons were monsters from the very depths Helheim itself. If the people knew what happened….

She would never be safe, Valka knew. She wished, oh how she wished it was different, but she had learned to accept long ago that she was different, and that difference set her apart from those around her back when she lived on Berk. But she had made the choice to stay away, to live apart from those who couldn't accept her. And now she was making that choice for someone else, and a child, at that. Someone else's child.

Valka sighed, one that conveyed regret, frustration, and weariness with the world all at once.

It was then that she heard the girl begin to stir.

Valka quickly turned to her dragon.

"Cloudjumper!" She hissed.

The Stormcutter was up from his dozing in an instant, listening attentively to what Valka had to say.

"Could you leave for a bit?" Valka asked, more than a saddened that she had to ask this of her best friend. "I don't want the first thing she sees when she wakes up to be a…"

The intelligent dragon must have known exactly what she meant, for he was out of the cave in a heartbeat.

Valka then turned back to the girl, who was beginning to toss and turn under the covers. She placed a hand on her shoulder in a way that she hoped was comforting.

Instantly, the girl's eyes flew wide open, and her thrashing only increased.

"Shh, shh, shhh, it's okay, it's okay," Valka said, still holding onto the girl.

Gradually, the child began to calm down, though her eyes were still wide as can be as she looked around the small room, a place she had never seen before in her life.

"Where am I?" The girl asked in a very tiny voice.

"You are in my home" Valka replied, keeping her tone as cheerful as possible. Apparently, the girl only realized just then that she was talking to a complete stranger. Her eyes locked onto Valka's, and the dragon rider was momentarily stunned by the rich blue color of those eyes. Deep of blue that spoke of insight and wisdom, something that Valka had seen lacking in much more mature and experienced Vikings.

"Who… who are you? Did you save me from the dragon?" the girl asked timidly, though with more confidence than before.

"My name is Valka, and no, I didn't save you from the dragon."

"Who did, then?"

One thing at a time, Valka thought to herself. Out loud she said," I'll tell you in a bit. Right now, why don't we have some breakfast."

And so over the next hour, Valka was able cook (if it could be called cooking) so fish over a small fire pit in the floor of the little room for just that purpose. The dragon rider tried to strike up some kind of conversation with the girl, but Valka had never been much of social person. Her guest answered her with quick nods or shakes of her head.

And so silence filled the room for most of the time, but Valka could that the girl was itching to ask something. If it was the question that Valka thought it was, she was dreading it.

"Can you take me home?"

Valka had suspected the question, but it still hit her like a punch in the gut. For a few moments, Valka simply stood, feeling the gaze of those knowing blue eyes boring into her. But in her heart, Valka knew that lying would not make things easier.

The girl deserved the truth.

"I…I can't take you back home."

Deafening silence filled the room for many long seconds.

The girl stared open-mouthed in pure shock. Valka saw in her eyes the hope drain away. The girls world was crumbling around her as she began to realize that things were changing, had already changed. And all the while, the dragon rider watched. Watched as the little girl's eyes filled with tears, and the sight tore at Valka's soul.

"W-Why not?" The girl asked, trying, and failing, to keep the quiver out of her voice.

"Because you were saved."

"S-saved from a d-dragon?"

"No. I believe that you were saved by a dragon."

Once again, the girl was stunned beyond words.

Valka saw an opportunity to make an impression.

"Dragons aren't monsters. They are kind, beautiful, amazing creatures. I once lived with Vikings like you, but they wouldn't believe that dragons were anything more than enemies. What would your friends, your family, say if they found out that a dragon had saved your life?"

"But I think, no, I hope, that you can change." Valka continued not wanting to lose her momentum "If you let me, I can show you a different way."

Valka extended her hand towards the seated girl.

Everything in the room was still for a long, long time.

Perhaps this is too overwhelming for her, Valka thought, Perhaps it's too much.

Still Valka waited, holding out her hand to the girl, who stared up at her with a blank expression.

After a long , long while, Valka began to realize that it wasn't going to work. _The whole idea was too much for the girl to take in all at once_. Valka turned back towards the exit to the cave.

But she stopped dead when she felt a small hand slip into her own.

The girl grasped Valka's hand with her own, trembling only slightly, Valka noted.

"Show me, " the girl said.

Valka clutched the girls hand more tightly, trying to impart some reassurance and comfort in that grip.

"Then come with me…" Valka said, then realized she hadn't even bothered to ask the girl her name. Maybe she had been around dragons for too long.

"What is your name, child."

"My name is Astrid"

* * *

Valka and Astrid walked hand in hand as they entered the sanctuary of the dragons.

"I promise that if you do what I say, the dragons won't hurt you" Valka had cautioned.

Astrid nodded to Valka, seeming to hang off of the dragon riders every word as the dragon rider gave her some pointers about what to do when meeting dragons for the first time. No sudden movements, make eye contact, and keep your hands where the dragon could see them.

Still, that advice almost flew away as the two of them beheld the sanctuary of the Bewilder beast.

The cavern was gigantic, larger than any Viking structure that Astrid had ever seen, dwarfing even the great hall back on Berk. The ground was covered in vegetation, looking like a carpet of solid green spread across the entire cavern, and the walls and ceiling were made of solid ice, shaped into massive spikes that pointed upwards to the heavens.

And there were dragons.

Dragons of every size, shape and color were all over the sanctuary. Some of them flew, some crawled, some swam, and some burrowed. The amount of movement, of shifting bodies and rainbow-like patterns, was staggering.

"Oh my gods." Valka heard the Astrid whisper. The girl leaned into Valka a bit more, and the dragon rider wondered just how to introduce the girl to a dragon.

Not very long after, the decision was made for her.

Cloudjumper, seeing his rider emerge from her abode, rushed over to her from where he had been waiting a short distance away.

"Hey big guy" Valka walked over to her dragon, giving him a scratch under his chin as she took his head into her arms. She noticed Astrid standing well back from the dragon, near to the cave entrance.

Valka gestured for the girl to come over.

"Come on, he won't hurt you."

Astrid didn't seem very sure, but the way that Cloudjumper was acting toward Valka seemed to give her courage. Very slowly, Astrid walked closer to the Stormcutter, keeping her hands out wide to either side to show him she meant no harm.

"Be gentle, boy" Valka whispered to her dragon, though she knew it was mostly unnecessary. Cloudjumper probably wouldn't attack the girl if she came running at him, but Valka believed this was a good learning experience for her, in case she ever met a dragon more hostile and less fond of humans.

"That's it… a little closer….. now stop, and reach out your hand to him." Valka instructed Astrid, whose fear was beginning to give way to curiosity. Now she did as the dragon rider instructed, standing a few feet from Cloudjumper, arm extended, waiting for him to do something.

"Now call to him. His name is Cloudjumper."

"Cloudjumper?"

Instantly, the dragon's head turned towards Astrid, who tensed at the sudden movement. But to his credit, he seemed to understand his role in this scenario. He reached his snout outward towards Astrid's outstretched hand. Valka knew from experience that the moments it would seem like an age before contact actually happened.

But it was worth it, Valka knew, as Cloudjumper's snout came in contact with Astrid's hand. She saw the shiver that went up the girl's spine. She saw her posture relax. She saw her expression go from curiosity to wonder to happiness. As Cloudjumper pulled back, Astrid moved her hand to his neck, stocking the sleek, scaled muscles. Her face was filled with awe as she focused completely on the dragon.

She didn't see Valka move up behind her.

"Well, good enough!" the dragon rider exclaimed. She grabbed Astrid under the arms and hoisted her up onto Cloudjumper's back.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Astrid cried out,

"Don't worry," Valka said though she was smiling all the while " if you get to scared, we can land"

Valka moved up to sit behind the girl.

"Wait, land?" Astrid said fearfully, clutching onto the scales at the back of Cloudjumper's neck.

"Don't worry about it," Valka replied. Before Astrid could respond to that, Valka shouted. "Let's go Cloudjumper!"

With that, Cloudjumper shot up into the air.

* * *

**What do you guys think? Love it, hate it? Let me know**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Act 1: Right and Wrong

**Thanks for everyone (all of two people, one a guest, but hey, it's better than none) who reviewed my story the last two chapters. I'd like to especially thank 'travellerofadifferentpath' for the constructive feedback you gave last review. And in response to that feedback, there will indeed be a chapter where we go back to Berk and see what's what, but not for a bit. Also I know Astrid seems a bit out of character, but that will be remedied over the next few chapters as she settles into her new lifestyle.**

**Anyways, here's the next chapter so enjoy!**

* * *

Swooping out of the ice caves faster than the wind itself, Cloudjumper carried them high over the ocean. They soared so far that the island became no more than a tiny speck in the distance. The icy wind nipped at the two riders, a wind that could chill a man to the bone.

But neither Valka nor Astrid felt that wind.

For Valka, it was a familiar experience, yet one that had never gotten old for her. The exhilaration of such pure freedom was something she had never been able to find before she had ridden a dragon for the first time. The feeling that came with flowing so freely through the skies, as if one were unbound by the laws and cares of mortals, was something that Valka had grown to love very quickly. And by the reaction it got out of Astrid, Valka knew the girl was loving it as well.

Astrid had the biggest grin on her face as they glided through the clouds. Just looking at that beautiful smile caused Valka's face to stretch into a matching smile. It was like Valka, through Astrid, was experiencing what it was like to the first time all over again. At one point, Astrid even threw her arms high up over her head, and Valka let a laugh of pure joy escape her throat at the sight.

Happiness was doubled when shared.

For hours and hours, they simply glided over the vast expanse of blue. They hardly noticed the various islands that they passed over, for they seemed so insignificant from so high a viewpoint. Valka didn't worry about getting lost- Cloudjumper always knew how to get back to the nest, no matter how far they flew. It didn't even matter where they were flying so much as the fact that they were flying. The world was open to them, and they reveled in it.

"This is ….incredible," Astrid said, breaking the long silence "I never thought Vikings could fly on dragons."

"Not all people have it in them," Valka replied, suddenly grim. "Some people will never see dragons as anything more than monsters."

"But… what if we went back to them. We could go to Berk. If we can just show them that dragons aren't bad then we ca-"

"No," Valka said again, and the finality in her voice stopped Astrid cold. " Believe me, Astrid, I've tried, but the people of Berk are not able to change. There is too much history. Too much blood. Their war is something that cannot be stopped."

"But I changed." Astrid insisted stubbornly, a hint of anger creeping into her voice. "You just want us to sit back and let them kill each other? What, did you try and then just give up? Don't you have any family back on your island? What if they get killed, huh? What if they die while we sit back and did nothing!"

Those words hurt. The pain those words created prevented Valka from speaking for a long, long time. For she did indeed have family back on Berk, and had wondered many times over the years how they fared. Was Stoick alive? Had he taken a new wife. What of her son, her little Hiccup? Was he dreaming of the day when he could take up arms in his fathers place? Was he learning to hate dragons, just as his father had, and his father before him.

"Astrid… I did have a family. I used to live on Berk, and I don't even know if that I had family still lives. Believe me, I want peace as much as anyone in the world, but too many Vikings believe that peace can only be found when their enemies lie dead. I tried, so much, to find another answer. And yet I could no more stop the war than I could stop the sun from rising and setting."

Silence once more over the pair, their joy of flight stolen by the weight of their conversation.

* * *

That evening, Valka and Astrid were back at the dragon nest, sitting back against the snoozing form of Cloudjumper. They had built a small fire to ward of the darkness of the encroaching twilight and cook themselves up some dinner. They just finished eating said dinner (once again, fish) and were now simply sitting, each of them deep in thought.

"Valka?" Astrid asked.

"Yes?"

"Not all dragons are good like Cloudjumper, right? I mean, plenty of dragons attack Berk all of the time. They've killed tons of people. My own uncle was killed by a dragon." Pain and anger mixed in Astrid's voice as she mentioned her uncle

Valka turned her head to the girl "There are good and bad Vikings, right?"

"Yes"

"So there are bad dragons, just like there are good dragons. But most dragons you will find are indeed good. Like Vikings, there are more good than bad."

"But the dragons attack Berk." Astrid said somewhat heatedly " Those dragons must be bad."

"Or they attack for some other reason, something we cannot see where we are," Valka replied

"But it doesn't matter what reason they have. The people on Berk didn't do anything to deserve it, right? So they must be the good guys. Which means the dragons are bad."

"It's not that simple," Valka said, "The world isn't just black and white."

"Black and white?" Astrid was confused

"The world is not divided neatly into right and wrong," Valka said. Valka got up and sat down across from the fire so that she could more directly face the girl.

"First of all, what do you think is the difference between right and wrong?" Valka asked, holding each hand up to emphasize her point.

"When you do the right thing, it helps people, and doing the wrong thing hurts people," Astrid said instantly. She seemed very confident in her answer.

"Partially," Valka replied, "But there is more to it than that. Sometimes things we do seem wrong, but we must do them because, for whatever reason, they are necessary. For example, if a dragon attacks a Viking, and the Viking kills the dragon in self-defense, is that on considered wrong, since it is hurting someone else?"

"That's different. Dragons aren't people"

"Ahh, but they aren't mindless beasts. Dragons share more similarities with Vikings than they do with, say, sheep, yaks or chickens. They have something that many think only humans have."

"What's that?" Astrid asked curiously.

"A conscience," Valka said simply "They can tell the difference between right and wrong, and that knowledge can direct their actions, just as it does with humans."

"But even if that is true," Astrid replied. "In the example you talked about earlier, the dragon is still the villain, not the Viking."

"But didn't you just say that hurting others is wrong?"

A pause

"So," Astrid said, "you think that the Viking stand there and let himself be killed?"

The girl was beginning to grow frustrated by this puzzling and cryptic conversation.

"No, but if it is wrong to hurt others like you said, then if the Viking wished to do what was right, then he wouldn't fight back," Valka explained

"But that's stupid." Astrid retorted," If something attacks, you fight back. You can't just let yourself be killed!"

"And so you admit your view of right and wrong is incorrect."

Astrid opened her mouth, then closed it again. Valka laughed.

"I'm not saying you are stupid, Astrid. I'm just trying to show you that right and wrong are not so easily defined in this world. That is why we have a conscience. But in order for that conscience to be effective, we have to develop it."

"Develop it?"

"Make it learn," Valka explained. "There aren't many who intentionally do the wrong thing, but inexperience and ignorance sometimes lead people down the wrong path. So through those failures, and the guidance of those around us, we are able to learn more about what is right and what is wrong."

Astrid's anger seemed to have dissipated a little, giving way to curiosity and thoughtfulness. For a long time, Valka waited, but no response come from the girl, who stared into the crackling fire, which was even now burning down to glowing embers.

"You said that most people don't choose to do bad." Astrid said, her voice low, "But what about those who do?"

Valka sighed.

"I have seen men who kill for sport, men who torture for the fun of it, and men who steal from those who have little out of reckless greed. Always, there will be men like these. Men who have no conscience, men who have no concept of mercy. And that, Astrid, is why I became who I am."

"That is what I have done out here for nearly a decade." Valka continued " I have fought against these men. When I was taken away from my home and was freed of the conforming ways of my people, I realized that I had been given an opportunity. Free to roam as I choose, I scour the world, fighting injustice in the places I can make a difference. That is what it means to be a dragon rider for me."

"That, Astrid, is who I am."

In the dying light of the fire, Valka saw something in Astrid's eyes. As the dragon rider poured out her soul to this young girl, those blue eyes lit with an inner fire. A fire that spoke of determination, dedication, and a desire to change the world for the better. Not long after Valka had finished speaking, Astrid replied. Her voice was low and steady, sure and confident. More than anything, though the girl's voice was filled with passion.

A passion to do the right thing.

"That is who I want to be."

* * *

**Well, managed to write this chapter a little quicker than the last one, so I'm happy for that improvement. If any of you are wondering whats up with the acts, I'm looking to have three acts in total (Maybe a fourth) and I'm aiming for each act to have 8-10 chapters each. **

**Next chapter, Astrid's going to begin learning everything she needs to be a dragon rider.**

**As always, thanks for reading, and have a good one.**


	4. Act 1: Training and Trapping

**Hello again everyone!**

**Don't have much to say about this chapter, other than there will be a little bit of a time jump in it as well as a set up for some action in the next one. Thanks for all of the reviewers and followers to the story. It really makes a difference to me. And speaking of which, in response to:**

**Travellerofthepath: Valka doesn't know about the Red Death at this point though she does suspect that something is up with the dragons that attack Berk. More about this will come in later chapters.**

**Theanvil7558: Ya, I kind of think of Valka as similar to Batman, as well as Hiccup, though both in different ways.**

**dragonridr55: Yup. Surprise!**

* * *

At first, Valka hadn't known where to begin with the girl's training, for there was so much she wanted to teach. There was so much more to Valka's life than simply knowing how to train a dragon. Astrid needed to learn survival skill. She needed to learn how to combat anything or anyone, she might come across in the cruel reaches of the Archipelago.

And so a training routine was developed. In the mornings, Valka took Astrid deeper into the dragon nest, familiarizing the girl with the dozens of different species, their likes, their habits, their traits, and most of all, how to approach them without provoking them.

For Valka, this was the most pleasant part of the training she gave Astrid. None of the dragons really cared too much about having another human living in the sanctuary, and so the two humans where not bothered as Valka showed Astrid the various species across the nest. Raincutters, zipplebacks, gronckles, snafflefangs, hobblegrunts, all of these and more Valka showed to Astrid, explaining each and every dragon in great detail before moving onto the next. Astrid, as eager a student as could be, drank it all in.

At noon, the pair switched over to physical training, exercises such as running, climbing, or jumping. This part of the training was often the most brutal and taxing, but just as necessary, Valka knew, as any of the other aspects of apprenticeship. To her credit, Astrid never once complained as those grueling hours of hardship rolled on and on, for which Valka was grateful. The dragon rider knew just how brutal the wide world could be, and this physical training increased Astrid's stamina, heightened her strength, and gave her a better understanding of her own limits. Those things were vital if Astrid was going to be able to survive in the brutal world they lived in.

In the late afternoon, Valka took Astrid flying. Round and round the sanctuary they flew, exploring the surrounding islands and icebergs. Valka made sure to tell Astrid something about each island they flew over, if for no better reason than that it would make it easier for the girl to remember each one. And remember she did, for the dragon rider made sure she knew which islands she could find various herbs and unusual wildlife. "It was always good to know where to find, say, a handful of dragon-nip" Valka had said one day.

And finally, in the early evening and early twilight of each day, they sparred with makeshift weapons.

Of all the activities they did throughout the day, the evening bouts were where Astrid most excelled. Valka herself was still the girl's better in hand-to-hand combat, but only just. Valka was aware, painfully so, that she wasn't much of a fighter, and she doubted there would be much she could teach Astrid in the coming years. Even among the sturdy, steadfast Vikings of the North, Astrid was a natural fighter. Before long, there would be nothing left that Valka could teach her.

After the each long day, both Astrid and Valka collapsed into exhausted, dreamless sleep. In truth, Valka found those long days better than any she had had in a long, long time. For the first in a long while, she had another human whom she could actually have real conversations with. For years, she had only the dragons to talk to, dragons who couldn't respond with words, dragons who simply couldn't understand what it was to be an outcast human.

And now she had a companion who knew exactly what it was like. True, Astrid wasn't the most talkative of people, and true, she was as stubborn as any Viking could be, but Valka enjoyed her company.

While Valka was beginning to see Astrid as a daughter, the two didn't always get along.

* * *

"I know I'm ready!" Astrid said for what seemed like that hundredth time that day.

The two of them had just finished their evening sparring bout and were in the middle of putting their makeshift practice weapons away. Those weapons were little more than sturdy branches that were straight enough to use as staves, but until Valka got around to finding (or making) Astrid a real weapon, those branches were all they had.

Valka's thoughts, however, were more directed to the most immediate conversation that Astrid had brought up earlier in the day, and one that Valka responded in the same way.

"Astrid, I told you before. You only just began training her a month ago, and you aren't ready to have a dragon as your own!" Valka exclaimed. Truly she had been impressed by Astrid's progress, but she didn't think the girl was ready to create a bond with a dragon like the one she shared with Cloudjumper. Apparently, Astrid, growing more and more confident by the day, disagreed.

"Why not?" The stubborn girl retorted. "I know everything there is to know about any dragon living here. And I can't just ride with you and Cloudjumper forever, so why can't I have a dragon of my own."

Valka sighed.

"First of all, it's not something you are able to force. Not only do you pick the dragon, but the dragon has to pick you. It's not something that you can really make happen. It takes time. Secondly, there is a big difference between a dragon letting you touch it's nose and letting you get on it's back to ride it."

"But Cloudjumper let me ride him."

"Cloudjumper is used to having a human on his back," Valka explained. "Most dragons aren't used to that."

Astrid opened her mouth to speak again, but Valka cut her off.

"Astrid, it's final. You aren't ready until I say you are!"

Astrid gave Valka a glare before walking off to who knows where. Cloudjumper walked up to Valka's side from where he had been watching the two for a while now. The Stormcutter glanced from Valka to the receding form of Astrid moving deeper into the ice cave. He made a little growling-purr in his throat, an indication of curiosity.

Valka put her hand under rubbed her hand across the back of Cloudjumper's head.

"Don't worry boy," She said, "She'll snap out of it. She's just angry…. and stubborn…. and frustrated. She'll snap out of it."

Cloudjumper just huffed, replaying the conversation between his rider and her adopted daughter in his head.

Humans were weird.

* * *

Astrid was sitting on one of the higher cliffs of the sanctuary. It was actually just outside of the ice cave, one of the few places one could get in and out of the cave though it was surely difficult to do without a dragon to fly on. Indeed, getting anywhere in the sanctuary was a chore without a dragon to fly on.

Truly, Astrid wasn't as angry at Valka as much as she was angry at the circumstances. She understood that there was more to bonding with a dragon than just touching its snout or feeding it another fish. Seeing how Cloudjumper and Valka interacted on a daily basis, she understood that there was something much deeper between them that. There was true friendship, companionship that came from understanding one another.

Astrid wanted that.

More than anything, she wanted a friend like that. No, at that time, she felt like she needed a friend like that. Right now, Astrid felt like she was at a strange point in her new life. A point where her thoughts and training were telling her one thing, but her instincts were still more in tune with her former life back on Berk.

Yes, it was a confusing time, and Astrid needed someone who could see things more on her own level. There was Valka, but she was an adult, and while Astrid was beginning to see her more and more as a motherly figure, she was still a little bit intimidated by the dragon rider.

Not for the first time, Astrid thought about her Berk. She wondered about her family, about her friends, and whether or no they were thinking of her? _They probably think that I am dead_, Astrid thought, and as it came to her mind, that thought brought tears into her eyes.

But those tears were brushed away quickly. Perhaps fate had forced this upon her, but crying about it wouldn't help anyone. Astrid thought about something that her dad once said when he got back from run with a particularly vicious group of thunderdrums while on a fishing trip. He took a deep breath, puffed out his chest, and said "we can't control everything that happens to use. We can only decide how we deal with it. And that is what can make us good people or bad people."

Slowly, Astrid said those words under her breath, over and over. As the darkness deepened and turned from evening to night, Astrid still sat, eyes closed, muttering the words her father had said like a mantra. The cold wind became frigid, biting at her skin, but so deep in thought was she that she didn't feel it.

After almost an hour, Astrid finally stopped, much more composed and calm than she was. She had mulled over the words of her last conversation with Valka, and she was able to admit, at least, to herself, that she had been wrong. She knew Valka was probably right, in that she wasn't ready, and that she was being childish.

A creak of strained wood pulled Astrid from her thoughts.

_Wood_? Astrid thought, her eyes darting back and forth, then fixing on a dark shape emerging from the dark gloom. Out in the dark water, a darker shape loomed. Tall and narrow, it glided in almost complete across the surface of the sea, save for the groaning and creaking of wooden beams strained and pulled against each other.

A ship.

Astrid felt herself grow cold. Valka never spoke of any kind of contact with other humans, and so anyone who showed up was likely not there by invitation. That and the fact that they were showing up at night instantly put Astrid on edge. She wasn't close enough to make out how many men might be on the boat, but she could see the rough outline of several deck-mounted ballista, as well as several large cages. Though actually seen them, Astrid guessed they were dragon trappers.

And the very thought of those men being there enraged the girl.

Valka had told Astrid plenty of things about trappers, and none of it was complimentary. Like slavers, really, except instead of selling humans, they sold dragons. And in Valka's view, that was just as bad. And now they were here, and the very sight of them filled Astrid with rage.

The smarter thing would have been to warn her mentor, but Astrid didn't. No, Astrid, furious at these men for even existing, and wanting to protect all those in the sanctuary, took the task upon herself.

Silently and swiftly, Astrid moved down the cliff face, closing in on the trappers.

She had no plan whatsoever.

* * *

**Ya, I don't think this was my best chapter ever, but hey, I'm excited for the next one. Hope you guys are too.**

**Thanks for reading, and as always, have a nice day!**


	5. Act 1: Trapped

**Hello, I'm finally back again.**

**I was meaning to get this chapter up earlier than this, but for two things. First, I just had a long weekend, during which my brain shut off completely. And secondly, my computer randomly reset when I was in the middle of writing. Of course, I hadn't saved for a while, so that I had to redo.**

**But enough about that. Next chapters up, and so I hope you guys all like it!**

* * *

Astrid was grateful for the hours of physical training she had done over the past mouth. Before, she would have hardly conceived climbing down the slick, ice covered cliff-face. As it was, she not only got to the bottom in a matter of minutes, but she did so without being seen by the trappers. Now from her view behind on of the many rocks that littered the beach, she was able to get a good long look at the encroaching group.

There were only about a dozen of them, and they were a real dirty group. They were dressed in dark brown furs, for the most part, that looked like they had definitely seen better days. Their skin was leathery and tanned from the hours spent under the sun, even if one could hardly feel the sun this far north.

_Unless_, Astrid thought,_ they weren't from up north_.

"You sure this is th' place?" Asked one man, the one whom Astrid thought was the leader of the group, if only because of the supreme confidence and authority in his voice.

"Yes, indeed, this is it." The small, weasel-like man beside the leader said. "Told you I could bring you to it, I did. The home of Dragon Rider, it is."

"We'll see. We'll see." The leader replied, pulling the white furs that he wore tighter about his shoulders.

"Of course." The weaselly man replied. "There it small matter of my payment."

Astrid nearly jumped as the leader suddenly moved, wheeled around on the smaller man, grabbing him up by the front of his tunic.

"You get paid when were done. And if you want that payment, your gonna' help us get some dragons. Now get going, and be quiet."

The leader jerked the smaller man towards the direction of the nest, where the other crew men were already at the base of the cliff, looking for a way up. But everywhere they looked the cliff seemed to be sheer.

Astrid shifted to get a better view, trying to make as little sound as possible. Though she was hoping that they wouldn't find a way in, logic told her that they would eventually make it. Even as the thought passed through her head, the trappers began pulling out hooks and rope from bags they had hauled off of the ship, and began moving all around the island, looking for somewhere to begin climbing.

But they made a critical mistake.

They left their boat unguarded.

Across the snowy beach, Astrid sneaked, moving smoothly and silently. The ship loomed closer and closer, a dark splotch against the silvery white of the snow shining in the night. And before long, Astrid was right up to the side of it.

It was then that Astrid actually stopped herself, hidden in the shadow of the trappers ship. After all, what was she trying to accomplish here, she asked herself. The logical thing to do from the start would have been to go get Valka. Surely she would know how to deal with these with these men. So what was Astrid doing out here, preparing to sneak onto a dragon trapper's boat, while those same trappers descended on her new home.

What was she trying to do?

She didn't really know, but came to realize that that fact was not going to deter her. Her decision came not from conscious thought, but from instinct, a feeling in her gut that there was something she needed to do.

And so, hand over hand, she climbed on of the hanging ropes into the boat.

* * *

"What is it, Cloudjumper?" Valka asked, looking over to her growling dragon. Something had obviously riled the Stormcutter, some sound or sent that had put him on edge. He was swinging his head from side to side, looking over the entire sanctuary from the vantage point they had outside the cave he slept in.

Valka, too was worried, scanning the nest for some sign of unusual movement. For several minutes, they stood there side by side, listening, looking, searching.

Valka saw nothing, but she wasn't at ease. She knew that Cloudjumper's senses were far superior to hers, and so if her dragon suspected something was out there, then she believed him.

Pausing only long enough to don her armor and grab her staff, she and Cloudjumper took off.

* * *

Only rarely had Astrid been on board a ship before, and never one quite like this one. The boats that Berkians used were bulky and tough, made to withstand the hardships of battle and heavy impact. They were also heavily decorated, covered in shields painted in various colors and sails depicting Vikings and dragon locked in battle. But this ship was not like those she had seen on Berk. This ship was different.

The overall design of the ship was narrow and slender, made of darker wood than any Astrid had ever seen. It had multiple triangular sails, rather than a single square sail that most ships had. Mounted on the railings were large crossbow like contraptions, meant not for throwing bolts and arrows, but rather nets.

Trappers got more gold for uninjured dragons than injured ones.

Astrid crept across the creaking boards of the deck, watching carefully for any signs of movement on the boat.

She nearly jumped when she heard a low growling sound coming from a trap door at the center of the boat.

Seconds ticked by, and Astrid made not a move.

The growling repeated itself again, the growl of a dragon.

Astrid moved over to that trap door, hand closing over the handle. Then she pulled.

The inside was lit by a small lamp, Astrid noted, as she peered into the hull of the ship. It was rather spacious, or at least would have been if not for the multitude of cages that were lined against the walls of the hull, each of them stained with rust and blood.

As Astrid climbed down into the hull, she realized one of the cages was occupied. In one far corner, inside one cage next to a stack of crates, was a dragon. A deadly nadder, and one that had not been treated kindly.

This nadder was a rich, sky blue, though its scales seemed to have lost some of their luster as a result of its captivity. They brighter yellow scales had darkened to a ugly dull brown, hardly reflecting the light of the small candle that burned in the hold. But the eyes, those yellow eyes were the worst. Without hope, those eyes were. Without true life.

Astrid moved right up to the nadders cage, and though it continued to growl at her, it couldn't hurt her if it wanted to. There wasn't any part of the dragon that could move more than a few inches, thanks to the seemingly dozens of chains that snaked around every part of its body, holding it fast.

"Easy, easy."Astrid said. The dragon continued to growl at her.

"I promise I won't hurt you" Astrid said in a soothing voice. Still the nadder was shrinking away from her as much as it could, and it let out a low, threatening hiss.

_Obviously, this dragon hadn't had a good time with humans_, Astrid thought. Still, she was trying to be as soothing and friendly as possible.

"I promise that I won't hurt you."

The nadder continued to growl, it's gaze fixed on Astrid.

No, wait. Astrid realized. The dragon wasn't looking at her. It was looking past her. At something _behind_ her.

That was the last thought that went through Astrid's head before a searing pain erupted in the back of head, and then everything went dark.

* * *

"… can't be the Dragon Rider. You think a girl like this could cause so much trouble for Drago?"

"She is a sneaky one sir. I barely noticed her in time to stop her from freeing that nadder on our ship. Wouldn't be surprised if was able to cause all sorts of mischief."

The voices around Astrid brought her back to conscience. Even as she woke up, she tried not to make herself move, taking in as much of her surroundings as she could.

She was lying face down in the snow, hands tied tightly behind her back. She recognized one of the voices as the leader of the trappers, and judging by where it was coming from, he was standing over her. Astrid also heard the footsteps of several others of the group around her.

"Well, what do we do with her." A voice asked.

Astrid subtly shifted tested the bonds that held her hands behind her, but they were almost excruciatingly tight. There was no way she was getting out of them on her own, especially since her hands were starting to go numb from the cold.

"Let's just kill her"

Astrid tensed.

"No" The leader said, "I think she might be useful to us."

"Useful. She's just a girl. What use is she?"

"She's a girl who just happens to be on an island haunted by a dragon rider. Perhaps she can tell us more about the one where looking for."

Astrid didn't like the sound of that.

"Bring her along" the leader commanded, "and we'll see what she can tell us once she wakes up."

Astrid felt herself being lifted up, and tried to keep herself as limp as possible. She had to force herself not to gag at the terrible smell of her captors. Not that Vikings were particularly clean folk, but these ones smelled like they hadn't bathed once in the past decade or so.

As the troop plodded along, Astrid was silently chastising herself. _So much for following your gut Astrid_, she thought. _Some great dragon rider you are_.

Astrid thoughts turned back to the dragon she had found in the trappers ship. Alone, frightened, trapped. Astrid now had an eerily similar point of view. Except, she told herself, she wasn't frightened. True Vikings were never afraid.

She told herself that, but in truth, she was afraid.

"DRAGON RIDER!" Astrid heard the leader yelled. "COME OUT FROM YOUR HIDING PLACE COWARD. YOU AND I HAVE SOME UNFINISHED BUSINESS."

The silence stretched on for a long, long time. Astrid cracked one of her eyes open to take a peek at what was happening. But being carried over the shoulder of a man while having your head upside-down made seeing anything extremely difficult. She did discern that they were gathered at the base of the cliff, for each of the trappers were craning their neck upwards, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious dragon rider.

They didn't have to wait long.

"Release the girl. Only after that shall we talk of unfinished business"

It was Valka.

* * *

**Bit of a cliffhanger for you guys. Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry again for it being later than usual.**


	6. Act 1: Cold fire

**Got this one up earlier to make up for the late one I just did. Aren't you guys lucky!**

**Anyways, not much to say about this chapter except for enjoy!**

* * *

"…..You."

There was so much hatred and anger in his voice that Valka was surprised it could be contained in a single word.

They were squared off. The trapper leader stood tall and proud, brandishing his sword in on hand, a shield in the other. The rest of his group waited behind him, anxiously waiting for the signal to attack Valka.

But in truth, none of those men wanted to be the first to go in, for Valka was surely an intimidating sight to behold. Arrayed in her fully battle armor, with her curled dragon staff gripped tightly in hands, she looked more than ready for battle. The fact that she was also standing tall on Cloudjumper's back certainly helped. She could feel her dragon's muscles tense beneath her feet, poised to strike.

For a long moment, nothing moved or made a sound.

Then. "I've heard many things about you, Dragon Rider." Said he trapper leader. "People say that you can talk to dragons. Some say that you're a ghost, striking out at passing ships for no reason they can discern. And there are those who say that you aren't entirely human, and that you can transform into a dragon and back whenever you want."

"I don't believe in these tales myself." The man went one, his voice steady, confident, and arrogant." What I know for sure, though, is that you cost me more than a fortune when you sunk one of my ships and took all of my dragons. I've come here to reclaim those dragons. And as an added bonus, I think I'll be wiping the infamous Dragon Rider off the map."

"Sorry to disappoint you" Valka snapped," But I have not intention of dying today. Take another step forward, and I'm sending you to Helheim."

The threat only seemed to anger the trapper. "Don't you know who I am! Don't you know who it is you are speaking to!"

"I try not to remember the names of trappers." Valka replied " They aren't worth it."

"My name is ERET!" The trapper spat. "Eret the fifth. Family of the greatest dragon trappers in the world. And that will be the last na-"

"Leave"

That single word, said with such coldness, stopped Eret's running mouth.

"Men like you disgust me. You take what you will without thought of the consequences to others. You would torture, murder, and lie if it would line your pockest with gold. So leave, Eret the fifth. Free every dragon you have ever captured and hurt. Go and live as a farmer on some distant island, for all I care. Know that if you continue this way of life, I will come for you. And I will end you."

The trappers looked around fearfully, most of them looking for an escape route should the unpredictable dragon rider attack. Eret, though, wouldn't be deterred.

"You think we're scared of you? Ha! Olin, bring the girl."

Valka tensed. She had seen this coming, and her mind was racing, trying to think of a way to get Astrid out of Eret's clutches without the girl getting hurt. She watched helplessly as Eret took the girl in his arms, on hand holding her up by the back of her tunic, the other resting his razor-sharp sword against her throat.

"Stand down, Dragon Rider, or she dies."

Valka was thinking furiously. She tried bluffing

"A girl? What is she to me?"

But Eret must have heard the quaver in her previously steady voice. He had seen right through her bluff.

"I'm getting impatient. Lay down your staff, woman, and we'll let her go."

"LIAR!" Valka screamed, dropping her cool façade. "Have you no humanity, trapper?! No shame?! You would murder a child who has done no wrong! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU!

"Monster you say." Eret replied, grinning smugly. "That's rich, coming from a woman who sides with animals against her own people. What kind of monster am I? The one who wins. Today, Dragon Rider, you have finally lost."

But Valka hardly heard Eret's last reply, for there was a flicker of movement that she noted, one that none of the trappers, focused so intently on her, had noticed.

Astrid had opened one eye, winked at her, and then closed it again.

Valka took a deep breath, steadying herself. In a few moments, she would have to give Cloudjumper the signal to attack, and then she would have to be fast. If she wasn't quick enough, Astrid would die. It was that simple.

Valka whispered a prayer to Odin under her breath, brought her staff high over her head.

"No Eret. Today, you will be the one who looses."

Before he could reply, she banged her staff against the nearby cliff face, making a sound like the crack of a whip.

That was the signal.

The entire beach erupted into motion. Several Snafflefangs leapt from their concealed perches on the edge of the nest, swooping down towards the trappers. An Iciclaw, moving impossibly fast, shot out from under a nearby snow pile. The ocean churned as a pair of Scauldrons erupted from the tide, waddling onto the beach and hissing all the while. But none of them, not even the wickedly fast Iciclaw, got to the trappers before Cloudjumper. Like an arrow fired from a draw bow, the Stromcutter rocketed forward, letting out a tremendous bellow.

Astrid understood the signal as well, as Valka had hoped.

The girl snapped her head back, connecting the back of her head with Eret's nose, which broke with a audible crunching sound. At the same time, she brought her booted foot down on Eret's own foot, and as tough as he was, the trapper couldn't help letting out yelp of surprise and pain. His grip loosened enough for her to wiggle out, and she threw herself flat to the ground to avoid Cloudjumper's flying charge.

The Stormcutter hit Eret with the force of an avalanche.

* * *

The trappers were a hardy bunch, but they were over matched, and by no small margin. The dragons, enraged that the trappers had come to the sanctuary and kidnapped one of their own(for many of the dragons, especially Cloudjumper, had come to see Astrid as one of their own).

In the ensuring chaos, the dragons quickly had trappers (those who weren't unconscious or dead) backing towards the lone ship. Of all of them, only Eret looked like he hadn't had enough. He had discarded his shield in favor of a second sword, and both of those weapons were coated in blood, though her himself was also painted with gore. Though he had been nearly flattened by Cloudjumper's initial charge, he was still alive and kicking. He swiped at any of the dragons that got too close to him and his retreating crew.

"Come on then!" He shouted at the surrounding reptiles. "Show me what you got!"

Big mistake.

Cloudjumper leapt forward, turning a complete circle in the air to gather momentum, Around came Cloudjumpers tail, swinging like a massive flail to smash into Eret.

Up the trapper flew. Launched by the Stormcutter's mighty tail swipe, he flew high into the air, going completely over his ship before splashing into the icy cold waters far away from the Sanctuary.

The remaining men were in full retreat, scrambling to shove the boat out into the water, as far away from the infernal island as they could. They unfurled the sails, pulled on the oars, and shoved off the shore, praying to every god they knew that the dragons wouldn't follow them.

Normally, Valka would let men, even trappers, get away. Even though she trusted dragons far more that she trusted humans, she hated to have to kill. Yet these men knew where the sanctuary was. If they got away, they would come back with more. The greatest defense that the sanctuary had was the fact that no one knew how to get to it, but if these men where to get back to their homes, that secret would be a secret no longer.

Valka knew what she had to do.

She whirled her staff over her head, gathering the Snagglefangs around Cloudjumper, hovering above the ship. Round and round the rattling staff spun, gathering the dragons into formation, while the terrified trappers far below could only watch.

Then, so very suddenly, Valka's staff stopped it's spin, pointing down to the ship. There was a woosh in the air as each of the dragons took in a huge breath.

"STOP!" A voice, Astrid's voice, yelled.

Too late.

From the mouths of the half a dozen dragons, fire erupted, blasting the ship. Wood crackled and exploded from the heat and pressure, while iron melted to pools of glowing slag. The whole thing groaned like a wounded animal, then tilted dangerously to the side.

Valka forced herself to watch the burning ship, forced herself to realize that it was her doing. She told herself that these men had brought it upon themselves, that they deserved their fate. It only helped sooth the feeling of guilt a little.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a splash, like someone diving into the water.

Valka's gaze, and on the edges of her vision caught a flash of golden hair in the firelight of the blazing ship.

Astrid was swimming straight for it.

* * *

By the time she reached the burning remains of the trappers' ship, Astrid could hardly feel her limbs. The water was wickedly cold, so much that Astrid could swear her blood was turning to ice.

When she had seen the ship catch on fire she hadn't even hesitated. Having just sawed through the ropes around her wrist on the sharp edge of a boulder, she pelted towards the floundering boat, determined to get to it before it was lost beneath the black waters.

Determined to help that poor, trapped dragon inside.

She was almost there, and her arms and legs were tingling, unfeeling to the point where they weren't registering exhaustion properly. Still, though she felt like she was dragging chains behind her, Astrid kept going.

Then, with the sound of groaning wood and twisting metal, the ship fell apart. Unable to hold itself together under the strain, it split apart, all of its contents and cargo spilling out into the sea. Astrid gaped in horror as she saw the very dragon she had come to save tumble into the dark waters, still locked in its cage. It let out a strangled roar, one that was quickly lost beneath the waves as the metal cage sunk like a rock.

Astrid pushed towards that cage with all of her might, and just barely managed to grab onto one of the bars before it would have sunk out of reach. She held on tightly as the cage dragged her down deeper and deeper, but she wouldn't let go.

She tried, tried so hard to yank open the cage. The logical part of her brain told her to let go and swim back to the surface, for there was no way she would be able to break the lock holing the iron contraption closed. But she looked into the eyes of the trapped dragon, and she saw the fear. She saw the fear, the horror, the anger, and most of all, the confusion.

In that moment, Astrid knew she wouldn't, she couldn't, let go. This nadder needed her, and no matter the odds, no matter how futile it was to keep trying. If nothing else, Astrid thought, the dragon wouldn't die alone.

They sank deeper and deeper into the cold black waters, and Astrid felt like her lungs would simply explode from the need for air. The water pressure was making her head ache, and she could barely see the cage right in from of her. Still she tugged at the cage door, held back by the stubborn lock. But her struggles were not getting stronger, only weaker, as she felt exhaustion and numbness were finally winning the battle against her. No matter how much she pulled, and no matter how much the dragon inside pushed, the cage door wouldn't open.

And so she was spent. She hung on limply as the cage descended through the dark waters, finally hitting the ocean floor with a soft thump. Bereft of strength, her lungs searing, her eyes burning from the salty water, Astrid knew it was the end. She couldn't even muster up enough feeling in her hands to pry her numb fingers from the cage bars.

In her last moment, all she could do was look into the nadder's bright yellow eyes, eyes so full of confusion. Confusion that a human would die trying to save it.

_I'm sorry_, Astrid mouthed, just before blackness overcame her.

* * *

**ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER!**

**And this time you're going to have to wait a bit longer before you find out what happens to Astrid. Cause next chapter, were going to have a look at what is happening on Berk.**

**Until then, folks, as always, have a good one!**

* * *

**Iciclaw dragon: Just like a Speed Stinger, but pure white, has wings, and no stinger on it's tail. Spits ice shards as it's breath weapon.**


	7. Act 1: Simmering

**As promised, were back on Berk for this chapter. I might do one more chapter back on Berk before act 1 is over, but chapter 8 is definitely going to go back to Astrid and Valka.**

**Anyways, I felt kind of rushed in this chapter so I hope it turned out ok. Tell my what you guys think.**

**Responses to Reviews:**

**Travellerofadifferentpath: It was in fact Eret's dad who Valka just just battled, though in this story he is Eret the fifth, making the Eret from the movies Eret the Sixth. And you question about why Astrid never talks about people from Berk is for Valka's sake. Valka made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with other humans, and so the topic probably doesn't come up between them. Astrid will certainly tell her dragon about her past life.**

**Silver Blue Eyed Wolf: In the next chapter, she will. I can promise you that Astrid is not going to die. Not yet, anyway...**

* * *

A boy sat at the edge of the docks that covered the southern edge of Berk, staring out into the seemingly endless expanse of water. It was nearing evening, and the cloudy sky was turning pink with the descending sun, a sight that was able to take the breath away from people even if they had seen it a thousand times before.

But the boy paid no attention to the dazzling sunset, or the lapping of the waves as they pushed against the wood of the docks. He didn't hear the bustle of the other Vikings, nor the creaking of ships as they shifted and moved with the tide. Indeed, the boy was so deep in thought he didn't notice the man walking up behind him until that man spoke.

"Thinking of her again, Erik?"

For the boy Erik, it seemed like a rhetorical question. There wasn't a day that had gone by when he hadn't thought about his little sister, gone for only a month.

For Erik Hofferson, it seemed like a thousand years ago since he had seen her.

The man behind Erik sighed.

"Son, we're Vikings. And we're at war. Astrid wasn't the first person lost, and she won't be the last. You have to let her go."

But Erik wasn't listening. He had heard it all before. Everyone was trying to tell him they knew how he felt, and that he had to move on. But to Erik's thinking, they didn't understand.

Of all his family, Erik had felt closest to his little sister Astrid, despite the fact that that he had been nearly seven years her senior. Each of them had been able to bring out another side of the other, a side that most people didn't see. Erik could tell Astrid anything, and she wouldn't judge him for it. Because for her, he knew he was a role model, an ideal that she wanted to follow when she grew to be his age.

And they could make each other laugh. They could make each other smile. For anyone who knew what the Hoffersons were like, that was something that didn't happen often, or easily. Fighters, one and all. A family of warriors, with renown only below that of the chiefs own family. But to get a Hofferson to smile was like catching sight of a shooting star. It was a rare event.

With his little sister gone, Erik didn't smile at all anymore.

Standing behind him, Erik's father took his sons silence as a signal to change the subject.

"We just got back from our hunt. You should have come along. Everyone's wondering why the boy who got top of the class in dragon training won't come searching for the nest with us."

"Because we never find anything" Erik replied, his voice filled with rising frustration"We've looked for over three hundred years, and we have never found a damn thing. I very much doubt that things would change if I decided one day to come along."

"Well, this time we did" His dad answered in a superior voice.

"What did you find? Someone's missing limb?" Erik replied, thoroughly disinterested.

"A man. Half starved and clinging to a piece of driftwood like a drowned rat. Didn't think he was gonnna' make it, to tell you the truth. But he was a stubborn fellow, he was. Up and about within a few hours, mouth running faster than a landslide."

"Which island is he from?"

"Wouldn't say. 'Kept rambling on about how he lost his ship and crew to a dragon attack."

"Typical" Erik said, standing up and stretching. "Probably some runaway, banished from his island for Thor-knows-what."

"Nah, he claims he's and honest-to-gods dragon trapper."

That sparked interest in Eric for the first time in the conversation. He had only met a few dragon trappers before in his life. They sometimes came to Berk to sell captured dragons, which young Vikings would be pitted against for training. In a way, Erik had learned to admire the trappers. After all, few people had the nerve and courage to try and capture the beasts.

"Is he here?" Erik asked, suddenly showing more eagerness than he had in a long time.

His dad nodded.

"We just brought him into the Great Hall to see the chief. If you hurry, maybe you might even get to talk to him."

* * *

"And so there I was, surrounded by what seemed like a hundred of the monsters, with nothing but my sword in one hand, and my hunting knife in the other."

Erik walked in to see the trapper standing on one of the many tables that littered the great hall, surrounded by a group of children which whom he held the utmost attention, held captivated by a tale grandeur and heroism.

"I turned." Said the trapper, "And leapt out to meet them!"

The man jumped off of his perch on the table and mimed a mighty sword strike, nearly crushing one of the surrounding children with his descent.

"That'll be enough" said a deep voice from across the room. Erik, still watching from the doorway, turned to look at the figure imposing figure of the chief striding across the room.

"Well, well, well." Said the trapper, looking in the chiefs direction. "Stoick. A pleasure it is to finally meet you, good sir. Your reputation proceeds you."

"I can't say the same for you." Stoick replied, sizing the trapper up from head to toe.

"Of course not." The trapper said smoothly, trying to push out his chest and pull himself to his full height, which didn't look like much beside the giant that was Stoick the Vast.

"My name is Eret, Son of Eret. Or Eret the Fifth if you like."

"So then tell me, Eret Son of Eret." Stoick said "how was it that my men found you in the middle of the ocean yesterday. What happened?"

The children Eret had been entertaining were all looking at him anxiously, and several other Vikings had begun to gather around, listening intently for his answer. Despite himself, Eric moved in closer.

"Have any of you heard of the one they call….. the Dragon Rider?"

There was whispering among the gathering crowd,

Erik had indeed heard of the legendary dragon rider, though he had passed it of as a myth or an old wives tale. There were many different stories about what the rider actually was, each one more fantastical than the next.

"Oh yes, my crew and I found the island where the rider lurks. A great fortress of made of pure ice, it was, larger than even the mighty castles of Rome."

"Oh really?!" someone shouted from the growing crowd. "You expect us to to believe that you found a fortress made of ice? Your nothing bu-"

"Quiet!' Said Stoick, and instantly the room was dead silent. "Tell me more about this dragon rider, you claim to have seen."

Eret paused. A dramatic and suspenseful pause, if EriK were to judge. He found himself eagerly leaning forwards.

"I only got that chance to see the rider for a few minutes. She was covered in armor of red and blue, carryi-"

"She?" Stoick interrupted. "This dragon rider is a woman?"

"Indeed. I never saw her face, but her voice was that of a woman, not a man. She carried only a staff, though one that she used to control and direct dragons at will."

Whispers of "impossible" and "is he insane" echoed throughout the hall.

"And then she attacked us!" Eret said, throwing his arms up dramatically. "From the sky and sea, she called her scaly minions. Dozens of them, there were. We fought until we could fight no more, and only then did we try to retreat, for there were too many for us to repel. We rushed back to our ship."

Eret paused again, letting the suspenseful moment hang heavily in the air.

"But the rider, oh she was a vicious one. When we got back to our ship, she showed us no mercy. She brought down fire on our ships from on high, too far away for us to fight back."

"I was, to my knowledge, the only one who survived."

"But who would do such a thing!"

The words exploded out of Erik before he could stop them, and he watched as every head in the hall turned towards him. He didn't care though; all he wanted to do was vent his rage.

"How could someone turn against their kind and side with those….those..MONSTERS!"

"Believe me, my boy" said Eret "I find it as appalling as you do. Believe me."

"Alright" Stoick butted in again. I think that we've heard enough for tonight, sir. I suggest we all get back to our beds and get some sleep."

The chief pointedly looked at Erik, who wasn't paying even the any attention to him at all.

Erik hardly saw a thing as he ventured out of the great hall, deep in thought.

A dragon rider. A real dragon rider! The very idea of such a person left a foul taste in Eric's mouth. How could some betray their own people and side with dragons! It was insanity. To actually betray your own was the most cowardly, disgusting-

Crash!

Erik bumped into someone, almost causing himself to lose his balance and go tumbling down the front steps. Eric snarled.

"Watch where you're going, you!"

It was Hiccup, son of Stoick the Vast, and the clumsiest, most accident prone Viking on the island (and some could argue, in the whole Archipelago).

Hiccup looked up at Eric with huge green eyes, stuttering out an apology, but the older boy couldn't have cared less for what he had to say. Erik simply walked by, making sure to give him a little shove as he passed.

The matter of Hiccup was one of the few things that Erik and Astrid had ever disagreed upon. While Erik thought the boy was a good for nothing , accident prone, spineless screw-up, Astrid was able to find characteristics about him to admire, if only from afar.

Erik had honestly tried to find some redeeming characteristics in the boy, who, he had grudgingly realized, would probably be his chief one day if not for his untimely death. But Erik honestly couldn't find a single… Vikingly trait in Hiccup. He was just so… different

In Viking society, different was not an enviable trait. Except, it seemed, for Astrid.

Oh Gods, why did every thought have to lead him back to Astrid.

Erik hurries through the village towards his home, not wanting anyone to see the fresh tears welling up in his eyes. He missed her so much! No matter how much people told him to let go, he knew he would never forget. He couldn't ever forget his sister.

And he would never forget, or forgive, those who took her away from him.

"Erik, the Dragon Trapper."

The words sounded sweetly to the vengeance-obsessed boy.

* * *

**Before, anyone says anything, I know having two characters named Eric and Eret can be confusing, but hey, it is how it is.**

**Not to much of Hiccup, I know, but there will be more of him. If not in act 1, then in the next act.**

**Anyways, have a good one!**


	8. Act 1: Stormfly

**Holy crap, plenty of reviews last chapter, and several questions. I'll answer all of these questions, though I will say some of them might contain spoilers. Therefore, if you are not interested in finding out what may happen in the story later on, please avoid the answers with the big_ SPOILER WARNING_ on them. If you really don't want to read spoilers, it's better to just skip straight to the story**

**.**

**Anyways, onto the questions and answers:**

**Guest: Eric is Astrid's older brother, who is thinking of becoming a dragon trapper after what happened to his sister.**

**Frank: _SPOILER WARNING_: Hiccup will indeed shoot down Toothless and train him, though with Astrid out of the picture, it is going to change how the events of the first movie play out. Namely, Astrid never stops Hiccup from running away.**

**Travellerofadifferentpath: _SPOILER WARNING_: Ya, Eric is definitely going to end up as a bad guy. **

**Tellemicus Sundance: The Eret of this story is indeed the father of the Eret from the movie, making him Eret, Father of Eret. **

**SPOILERS END!**

**Without further ado, lets get onto the story!**

**Enjoy**

* * *

It was dark, and it was cold.

These were the only things that seemed to register in Astrid's mind. The blackness was darker than a clouded, starless night. And it was more solid than true shadow could ever be, surrounding her, smothering her, choking her.

And the cold. So very cold. Coldness that mocked the idea of warmth. Coldness that settled in Astrid bones, and made her blood felt like pure ice in her veins, cutting at her from the inside. So cold it denied all possibility of warmth, so cold it made Astrid experience both complete numbness and searing agony at the same time.

It was endless and eternal, stretching on for a seemingly infinite amount of time. Poor Astrid could have sworn days, or even weeks had passed with no relief. Darkness and cold were the only things left in her world.

And then…. warmth? Such a tiny spec of warmth, it should have been unnoticeable to the girl. But to Astrid, so very cold and alone, that warmth was like a bonfire, and she eagerly embraced it. She felt it growing stronger, steadily spreading to encompass all parts of her. Soon the coldness was gone, with nothing left of it but a memory, one that was banished by the comfort and embrace of that warmth.

A single thought passed through Astrid's mind at that moment. In her dreamlike state, it hardly gained any purchase in her conscience, but it lingered longer than any of the other thoughts that flitted in and out of her head.

The single thought, persistent and annoying, was a question Astrid couldn't find the strength nor the courage to answer.

_Is this what it feels like to die?_

The first thing she could make out was the sound.

The sound was persistent, buzzing, and in a way, reassuring. For while that sound waxed and waned, it never fully stopped, providing a soothing background to everything around her.

It was the sound of the dragon sanctuary, her home.

She was lying down on her own makeshift bed, bundled up neck to toe in warm furs and pelts. The smell of smoking wood was heavy in the air, and Astrid could see the remnants of a small fire in a makeshift pit they had dug in the middle of the cave for cooking.

There was no sign of Cloudjumper or Valka.

Astrid started to push herself out of the bed, but fell back almost immediately as a wave of exhaustion pushed her back down. Every part of her suddenly felt so heavy, as if there was simply no energy left in her body. Growling stubbornly, Astrid pushed tried to push herself up again, and almost managed to sit up before collapsing again, patting heavily. She closed her eyes, took several deep breath, and forced down her mounting anger. After all, though she hated to admit it, she was too weak to do anything until Valka came back.

She didn't have to wait very long.

Valka entered into the cave soon after, followed closely by Cloudjumper. When she saw that Astrid had woken up, she made a beeline straight for the reclined girl, and immediately crushed her in a great bear hug.

"Oh, thank the gods you're alright." Valka said, a hint of a sob in her voice. "I was so worried, wondering if you were ever going to wake…"

"Auntie…..Val…..I can't…breath!"

Valka immediately let go and Astrid fell back into the her reclined bed, gasping for breath.

The older dragon rider looked slightly mortified, though it couldn't wipe away her happiness at seeing her adopted daughter awake and talking once again.

"I'm sorry. How do you feel?"

It took Astrid several seconds to muster up the breath and strength to answer.

"I feel…" She didn't want so say 'weak', so she improvised. "…tired."

Valka nodded, a slight smile creasing her lips.

"Well, I daresay so. That was quite the stunt you pulled. Please don't scare me like that again. I'm surprised you managed to survive at all."

"Stunt?" Astrid wracked her brain. Why, afterall, was she in bed, week as a baby, listening to Valka telling her how she had escaped seemingly certain death. Now that she thought of it, she couldn't remember getting into her bed the night before, nor the entire day befo-

Then, it all came back to her. The ship. The trappers. The battle. The fire.

The trapped dragon.

"Auntie Valka! There was a nadder trapped on that ship! It was sinking to the bottom of the ocean! I tried to break it out of its cage bu-"

"Astrid, slow down there. The nadder is fine. For that matter, she was a lot better off than you were when she dragged you up to shore."

"B-but, it was caged." Astrid said, almost sobbing. "It…She couldn't have dragged me to the shore."

Valka smiled comfortingly.

"Well, somehow it must have gotten free, because by the time I had sent a scauldron to go down after you, there the nadder was. Pulling you up onto the shore. You must have freed it, didn't you?"

Astrid thought back. She remembered diving after the cage in which the poor nadder was trapped. She remembered tugging at the bars futilely, desparate to save the trapped dragon. And she remembered failing, growing weaker, her lungs crying out for air, her head begging for a release in the pressure.

Then there had only been blackness until she woke up inside the sanctuary.

"No." Astrid said "I didn't free that dragon. It must have freed itself"

"Well, I don't care how it escaped." Valka replied quickly. "The important thing is that both of you are alive and well."

But Astrid wouldn't lay the matter to rest that easily. How could the nadder have escaped? Valka hadn't been there, or she also would have doubted the trapped dragon could have gotten free, even with Astrid help. And yet, unless Valka was lying to her, that same dragon had not only got out of being drowned, but also saved the unconscious Astrid from sharing a similar fate.

It was a mystery. One Astrid was determined to solve.

"The nadder… Can I see it. Is it still here?"

"_She_" Valka stated, emphasizing the first word" is here in the sanctuary. I think she wants to see you. She's been waiting by the cave entrance like a guard dog almost constantly since I moved you in here."

Astrid was surprised. She almost thought the nadder would have gone flying back to its own home the moment it was free, wherever that home may have been.

"Can…Can I go see her?"

Valka chuckled.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. I think you could get a bit of lunch in you before you go anywhere."

Silently, Astrid groaned. It seemed before she could mee the dragon that saved her life, she would have to get through a batch of whatever concoction Valka was cooking up today.

She would rather have another go at the trappers.

Though Astrid wasn't a big fan of Valak's cooking, she had to admit that she was feeling a lot better after the meal. If gave her enough strength so that, with Valka's help, she actually managed to rise to her own two feet and walk around the small cave a bit.

Valka had insisted that Astrid was pushing herself to much, but the girl didn't care. Apparently there was a dragon who had saved her life only a short walk away, and before the day was out, Astrid wanted to give a face-to-face 'thank you'.

So foot by foot, leaning into Valka the whole way, Astrid managed to make her slow way out of the cave.

As always, the brilliant display of sunlight and color greeted her in a dizzying dance. Dragons of every color flitted and soared throughout the massive sanctuary, and the sunlight refracted as it poured through the ice structure, making rainbows of light that crisscrossed everywhere one looked.

Astrid's gaze however, was fixed on the dragon right outside the entrance to the cave she was emerging from. Slightly to her right, sitting like an anxious, overgrown bird, was the same nadder she had seen in the trappers ship.

It looked healthier than when Astrid had last see it, if only a little bit. The scales were no longer tinted with the sickly greenish color, but now shone in lustrous, sky blue. The nadder was practically quivering with energy now, where as before it was droopy and exhausted from days, or weeks, malnutrition. But most of all, the eyes where what caught Astrid's attention. Those eyes, once full of despair, sorrow, and anger, where now full of something else.

Those eyes locked with Astrid's eyes.

In that moment, something based between the girl and the dragon. An understanding, as if the two suddenly knew each others thoughts like their own. The moment was only a fraction of a second long, though Astrid could have sworn it was at least several minutes long. After all, how could communication such as this happen within so short a time.

The nadder suddenly came forward. Astrid felt Valka's grip around her shoulder tighten, though Astrid knew the nadder would be as gentle as it could.

How she knew? She just did.

And suddenly, it was right in front of her, sniffing her up and down, examining her with those bright eyes. Astrid held herself rigidly still, her gaze not wavering as the curious dragon inspected her.

Finally, after a few minutes, the nadder seemed to be satisfied. It took a step back from Astrid, its snout no more than an arm's length away from the girl.

And it waited.

And waited.

The moment stretched on, with both the nadder and Astrid standing statue-like, unmoving, unaware of their surroundings, and both wondering what was going to happen next.

Astrid knew what she was expected to do. It was just just that she was afraid to do it.

"Go on" Valka encouraged quietly, still supporting her at the shoulder.

And with that, it happened. Astrid reached out with her hand, trembling slightly, towards the dragon, though she stopped just short of touching her snout. She then, in a show of trust, she closed her eyes shut.

The dragons warm, scaly snout nuzzled her outstretched palm.

Astrid felt a strange, wonderful feeling inside her gut. A feeling that she had often felt when interacted with other dragons, but none of those times approached the intensity of this. It was a feeling of awe. Awe in the fact that one could reach a level of communication with someone so different. To have someone place their complete and total trust in you, and put yours in them.

It was wonderful, to know that you could put such complete trust in someone. And to know that they would always trust you.

"She needs a name." Valka whispered softly beside her, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"Stormfly"

The name came so automatically it was almost like it was god inspired. Apparently, the nadder agreed with the choice of name, because it let out a content purr and nuzzled Astrid in the chest.

And so Stormfly became Astrid's dragon

And Astrid became Stormfly's human.

* * *

**Thank you for all of the people who reviewed, favorited, and followed. It really means a lot to me when I can look and see how many people like reading my story. You guys inspire me to keep going. Thank you all!**

**Where closing in on the end of Act 1, so everyone hold onto you hats. It's going to be a wild ride.**

**Have a good one!**


	9. Act 1:Fear, Love, and Lies

**I'M BACK!**

**Wow, only a week since I updated and it feels like it's been FOREVER since I wrote last. I had a crazy busy weekend, and of course school work is always a pain. But here we go. Next chapter.**

**One more before it's onto Act 2, and then things will start to get really interesting.**

**Also, in response to the review AdenineThymine, I'm not going to reveal just how bad of a bad guy Eric will be just yet. You may just have to read and find out. **

**Anyways, as always, Enjoy!**

* * *

Astrid resented the fact that she couldn't start riding on Stromfly that very same day, but Valka was insisted that she was in no condition to fly. Indeed, when Astrid collapsed halfway back to her bed, even she had to admit that she wasn't going to be doing anything strenuous for a good long while.

And so she waited,

And waited.

And waited.

All in all, patience wasn't one of Astrid's strengths. She always wanted to be doing something, even if that something didn't accomplish anything at all. Even if it was just a stupid way to keep one's mind and body active, like chucking stones out into the ocean, it was better than laying in bed for what seemed like endless amounts of time.

In short, Astrid was bored.

Valka, Cloudjumper, and Stormfly certainly helped Astrid take her mind off her predicament. Stormfly spent nearly all her time with Astrid, waiting for the day her new human friend could get out of the cramped cave and get out into the fresh air again. Cloudjumper appeared less than pleased with the newest acquisition into the family, but then, he was probably just jealous now that Astrid was starting to favor the nadder over him.

Most of all, it was Valka who made sure Astrid was kept entertained throughout those long days. Astrid never would have guessed it before, but it turned out that the dragon rider was a rather gifted storyteller, whether she retold old fairy tales or made up new ones on the spot. Immersed in those tales of mighty deeds and heroes long gone, Astrid could forget her about that fact that she was trapped in her bed, unable to create deeds of her own.

The tales were numerous and incredible. There was the story of Kragan the Seamaster, the first Viking to ever build a ship and go out to conquer the raging sea, to be swallowed by a raging maelstrom. There was the Marack the Bold, who won no less than seven wars in his day, each against tribes larger than his own.

Astrid drank it all in like a thirsty man drank water. These where all stories that she had heard before, along with many others, but she never got tired of listening to the mighty and great deeds of men long past. Perhaps she was shooting a little to high, but she hoped that one day she would earn a place among the warriors of legend.

A child's dream, perhaps, but one that Astrid felt certain she would fullfil one day.

* * *

"What are you afraid of?" Valka asked.

They were sitting by alpha's pond at the middle of the sanctuary, dangling their feet out over the water. Valka had finally allowed Astrid to get out of bed and move around a bit, though the she still forbade the girl from doing any flying with Stromfly until she was fully recovered (which Astrid claimed she was.)

It took a moment for the girl to register the fact that Valka had spoken, as they had simply been sitting in silence for a long while, watching the dragons crisscross throughout the sky. When she fully came to realize what she had just been asked, Astrid bristled.

"I'm a Viking. I'm not afraid of anything."

She sounded angry, as if the mere implication of the question was an insult. But Valka just chuckled.

"Everyone is afraid of something. What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything." Astrid repeated.

"Yes you are." Valka replied " And I think I know what it is."

"What?"

"Being afraid."

Silence came over them as Astrid stared at Valka in complete confusion for several seconds, trying to make sense of seemingly nonsensical words.

"It is a common thing among Vikings." Valka continued. "You have been taught from a very young age that fear is a weakness, something that is not tolerated in Viking society. You have been taught that only if you have no fear can you be a true warrior."

"But…. Isn't that true? If you run from a fight, you let down those who count on you to fight for them and with them. That's what my brother used to tell me."

"Well, what if I told you that even the bravest Vikings in history had things they were afraid of?"

Astrid's eyes widened as if Valka had just uttered some unspeakable blasphemy.

"It's true. Everyone is afraid at some time in their life. There are many times that I find myself afraid. But brave people are brave because they have mastered their fear, not because they are never afraid."

"Mastered their fear?" Astrid echoed, now sounding genuinely curious.

"Yes" Valka replied, now turning to face Astrid more directly, her voice changing into the tone she used whenever she was explaining a new concept to the girl.

"Fear is completely natural. We are human, and therefore we feel fear. It is a part of who we are. The only time that fear is a bad thing is when fear overrules conscience."

"That is when fear is a problem." Valka continued. "Fear is supposed to advise your conscience, to prevent you from doing things that are foolhardy or stupid. But if your fear gets in the way of your conscience, and prevents you from doing the right thing, that is when it becomes a problem for you."

"But then" Astrid replied slowly, still trying to process everything Valka just said "How do I make my… conscience, stronger than my fear?"

"Ahh. Now you're on the right track. The truth is, the greatest thing we can do to decrease our fear of something is to learn more about them. "

"As Vikings, indeed, as humans, we are afraid of the unknown. When we don't know anything about something, we don't know how to react to it, or how it will affect us. That is what scares people most."

"But that can't be everything." Astrid said. "I mean, I knew this one boy back on Berk… Fishlegs. He knew tons about dragons, be he is still terrified of them. And another kid, Snotlout, he doesn't know the first thing about a dragon, yet he isn't afraid."

"That is because some people don't have the proper balance of fear. Some people are so wrapped up in their fear that they learn to act upon it rather than their conscience. Those people are true cowards, because their fear blinds them from doing what is right. And then there are those who have too little fear."

"How can you have too little fear?" Astrid asked, seeming to be growing more confused by the second.

"I've told you" Valka replied patiently "Fear is a part of who we are, and keeps us alive. Your fear is your minds way of telling you something is not safe, and if we ignore caution so completely that we have no fear at all, then we would end up dead in very short order."

"So then?" Astrid said slowly "How do I know if I have a balance?"

"That" Valka stated "is something you have to find out for yourself."

Astrid sighed in frustration.

"In truth, while I can teach you how to fear something less, I cannot make someone into a brave person. A coward is still a coward, and a reckless fool is still a reckless fool, and probably a dead fool. What you are, Astrid is for you alone to decide. "

"Though I don't think you will have much trouble with that."

"Why not?"

"Because, Astrid you are a very brave person, and it is much easier for a brave person to become more cautious than a cowardly person to become more brave."

After that, the two sat in silence for a long while, Astrid mulling over her most recent lesson and the meaning behind it. Around the small pond, Stormfly was darting all about, determined, so it seemed, to explore every inch of the sanctuary at once. Cloudjumper, on the other hand, was curled contently on the bank, dozing off in a patch of sunlight that managed to sneak it's way inside the icy fortress.

And all the while, Valka and Astrid sat side by side in silence, basking in the sounds, smells, and sights of the nest, marveling at its natural beauty.

It was Astrid who first broke the silence.

"Auntie Valka."

"Yes, Astrid?"

"You said that what we are afraid of is a part of who we are. That everyone is afraid of something. Right?"

"Yes."

"So.. what are you most afraid of?"

If the girl had turned and punched Valka in the gut, it would have had the same effect as that innocent question. The dragon rider actually rocked backwards for a second. Indeed, shouldn't she have expected such a question? Before, she had never put much thought into what she was afraid of. After all, she had been battling trappers and pirates for almost a decade now, freed dragons from under the noses of fellow Vikings, and shared a home with a Alpha Bewilderbeast, the mightiest dragon to ever live.

But though she felt fear when battling trappers or pirates or warlords, none of these were her worst fear. Nor fear of death, pain, or imprisonment. No, Valka afraid of something else, something she was ashamed to admit, even to herself.

She was afraid of her former home. She was afraid of the people who once knew her. Most especially she was afraid of the man she once loved.

She couldn't bear to face him again. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye and tell him she had abandoned him. She couldn't bear to look into his eyes and have those eyes reflect hate for her.

All because she had sided with the dragons.

"What I fear most" Valka started, speaking slowly to keep her voice from shaking "is the thought of losing those that I love."

Once again, silence came over the pair, broken only by the quiet rush of water over stone, and the occasional splash of Stormfly, who decided to see if the pool was inhabited by any tasty fish.

"I'm afraid of losing the people I love too" Astrid said "It's just, with all that you've taught me…. And what the people back at my village would say if I went back….. I don't know who I love anymore."

Wrapped her arm around the girl's shoulders pulling her in closer even as she felt tears coming to her eyes.

She didn't know what she felt worse about; having to lie to this girl whom she had come to see as a daughter, or seeing that same girl talk about how she was afraid to love, not knowing whom had earned it.

"I will make a promise to you right now, Astrid. You have been like a daughter since you came here, and I haven't treated you as such. But you deserve more. I promise, from this day forward, that I will always love you, support you, and take care of you as a mother should. You deserve that much and more."

"But… what about my real mother? Do you think I will ever see her again."

Valka tried not to choke over her next words.

"May… Maybe."

And so from that day on, Valka was a mother again.

And she found out was it was like to lie to her child.

* * *

**Wow... I don't even know what to say about this chapter. I just started writing and kept writing on and on and on and on and on... Well you get the idea.**

**Anyways, have a good one!**


	10. Act 1 Finale: Apprentice and Mentor

**Last chapter before act 2 begins.**

**Here we go.**

* * *

**Two years later...**

There were several differences key differences to flying with her dragon Stormfly, as opposed to flying on Cloudjumper, the eleven year old Astrid thought.

First and foremost, she flew all by herself

Oh, sure Valka was flying with Cloudjumper almost wingtip-to-wingtip with her, but still, riding by yourself on a dragon was quite different from riding with some ones arm constantly wrapped around your waist.

It was exciting, though also a little bit unnerving. Stormfly was less to having a human on her back that Cloudjumper was, even after their two years together, and Astrid still felt herself wobbling a bit unsteadily in her seat from time to time. The fact that she rode without any sort of saddle made things all the more difficult.

"Steady, Astrid" the girl heard Valka say, though she hardly needed the advice. She was doing everything she could to balance as it was. And in a few more seconds, it was going to get even harder.

"Just like I told you Astrid…. That's it…. Slower…. Slower."

Moving very, very slowly, Astrid put her feet under her, planted them on to of Stomfly's back, and rose up.

Her feet lined up along the dragon's spine, her arms stretched out wide for balance, Astrid slowly moved herself into a standing position. Though she had seen Valka do it many times, (and when she made it look so easy too) Astrid still found it appallingly difficult.

Still, so far so good. Though she was struggling to stay on her feet every inch of the way, she had managed to stay balanced thus far. While 'thus far' only equated to a few moments, those few moments were longer than any previous attempt she had managed to do.

And then, after what seemed like an eternity, she was standing. Her knees slightly bent, her right foot out in front of her, her left behind and perpendicular to it, her arms spread wide for balance, she would have thought that she looked rather comical, were she not focusing so hard.

But after many attempts, she had succeeded. She had lost count of just how many times she had tumbled off of Stormfly's back while trying to achieve such a maneuver. Still, her Viking stubbornness pushed her onward, even after dozens of failures.

And now here she was, standing balanced upon her dragon as they soared low above the vast blue ocean. Astrid risked a glance over at Valka, who was watching her with a wide smile, watching her from atop Cloudjumper's back. The older dragon riders eyes were full of pride at her adopted daughters accomplishment.

Astrid couldn't help herself. She let out a huge whoop of delight and exhilaration.

Then she was flying free, or rather falling. Tumbling head over heels through the open air to crash into the dark ocean.

* * *

"You know, it could have been worse." Valka said cheerfully.

She, Astrid, Stormfly, and Cloudjumper were all gathered around the fire they had hastily built, huddled close to soak up as much heat as possible. Valka was roasting a pair of fish over the fire, where as Astrid was stroking Stormfly under the chin with one hand, and trying to wring the water out of her sodden blond hair with the other.

"I don't see how. I failed again." Astrid replied, staring drearily into the fire.

"But you got further than ever before, right?"

"Ya, but so what? It seems like every time I try, it always the same way. What if I never get it right?"

Stormfly, sensing her friends distress, nuzzled her shoulder gently.

"You thought the same way about riding on a dragon by yourself, if I remember correctly. You never thought you could get that right either."

"That was different."

"How so?"

"That is much easier. It-"

"Astrid" Valka interrupted "It doesn't matter how easy or hard it may be. The only thing that matters is that if you work hard enough at it, you can accomplish it. All it takes is time and hard work. And you have plenty of both."

"Besides" Valka continued, smirking "I think Stormfly might have made you fall. Maybe she thought you were in need of a little bath."

Astrid looked over at her dragon, who was suddenly looking very sheepish. Cloudjumper snorted in an amused way, smoke puffing out of his nostrils.

"And on that note" Valka said, standing up. "I have something for you."

The dragon rider reached over, near where here staff was laid out across the ground, but instead of picking up her weapon, she grabbed onto a large, cloth-covered bundle. Astrid had seen it earlier in the day, though only when Valka had brought it out at the beginning of the lesson. The girl hadn't questioned it then, but now she was a little curious at what might be inside.

Valka moved back to her seat and placed the bundle almost reverently on her lap, then slowly began pulling away the layers of cloth.

"Astrid, you have been here two summers now, and I have taught you a great deal. You and I know more about dragons than nearly anyone has ever dreamed of."

Valka's hands stopped moving as she reached the last layer of cloth covering whatever was within the bundle.

"Throughout your time here, you have shown me that you are responsible enough to earn this."

The final wrapping's fell away, and Astrid stared in awe.

It was a spear, corved with such perfection that it seemed to have simply grown out of a tree in the shape it was now. It was almost as long as Astrid was tall, made of some light brown wood she didn't recognize. Carved into the sides were flowing designs of dragon scales running along its entire length, as well as several holes, as if the weapon were a gigantic flute.

And the weapon didn't simply taper to a point at the end of its length. No, affixed to the end of its length was a nadder tail spine, blue and yellow, like the spines from Stormfly's own tail.

There was a long silence, stretching on through the air, until Astrid finally managed to stutter out.

"You… you made this for me?"

Valka nodded.

"I can't say I hope you will never use it, because if you never needed to, you wouldn't be able to pursue this way of life. But you have shown me that you are ready for the responsibility that comes with it."

Valka stood up, walked around the fire, and presented the weapon out for Astrid to take.

Astrid hesitated. She was sincerely touched by Valka's gift, but didn't know if she agreed with Valka's statement that she was ready for the responsibility it came with the gift. In Viking culture, the giving of a weapon was particularly significant, as it demonstrated not only your trust in the person you were giving the weapon to, but also your trust in their skills, and their ability to use that weapon competently.

And now, in handing over a weapon to Astrid, Valka was showing her confidence and trust to a girl no more that eleven years old.

Valka was giving her the power to fight. The power to defend herself and those she loved.

But Valka was also giving her the power to kill.

Astrid tentatively reached out and took the spear from Valka's outstretched hands.

It felt as smooth as it looked, almost liquid-like beneath her finger. It was also surprisingly light, a fact that Astrid didn't understand until she realized it was hallow. Then she was even more confused.

"Why is it hollow?" She asked curiously.

"Spin it." Was the only reply she got.

"What?"

"Spin it. Then you will understand."

Astrid held the spear up above her head, then began twirling it in her hands, slowly at first, the picking up speed as the wind passed through the holes in the weapon, producing a peculiar whistling sound.

"It is used to communicate with dragons. Like the rattles in your staff, right?"

"That's right. And now, Astrid, you have everything you need to be a true dragon rider…... well, almost everything."

Astrid eyed Valka curiously.

"What more do I need?"

"Something you can never get enough of."

"Practice?"

"That's it."

Astrid groaned.

* * *

Two men stood across from each other on the docks of Berk. One carried a worn and beaten satchel over his shoulder and had a cold, determined look in his ice blue eyes. The other stood barley an arms length from his newly acquired ship.

"…And you're sure that you have what it takes, boy. Dragon trapping is only for the best of the best."

Erik Hofferson looked the big trapper right in the eye and nodded confidently, an almost mocking smirk upon his lips

"And how do I know that you are up to the challenge, eh? You understand that I can't just accept any kid that comes to me looking for a job." Now Eret was matching Erik's smirk with one of his own.

In response, Erik pulled, from out of his battered satchel, a pair of black horns, each of them longer than one of his arms.

Monstrous Nightmare horns.

"I brought down the dragon these belonged to single-handedly" Erik explained "First dragon that I ever killed."

Still, Eret looked less than impressed.

"I've taken down plenty of Monstrous Nightmares in my day, boy. It'll take more than that to become a trapper."

"Still" Eret continued. "I am short a few crew members at the moment. How 'bout this? I'll give you a season on my ship. If you can prove to me you have what it takes to be a trapper, I might- might- consider you for a full time crew member."

"But if you aren't up to the challenge, we drop you off at that nearest port, and you can get your own way back home."

Erik didn't even have to consider the offer.

"Done" Erik said simply. "When do we leave?"

"When I say we do" Replied Eret, not missing a beat. "What's your name, boy"

"Hofferson. Erik Hofferson. And don't call me boy."

"A bit feisty, eh? Well Erik, how do your parents feel about this?'

"I'm eighteen summers old. I can make my own decisions."

"Fair enough" Eret's eyes glittered with something unreadable, then he said "And why do you want to be a trapper?"

"I have my own reasons." Erik said, a bit more defensively than he wanted to.

"You're coming on my ship. I'd like to know those reasons." Eret almost snarled

There was a pause.

"I…I hate dragons." Eric said, carefully keeping his voice steady.

"Nothing new there"

"This is different."

"And why, may I ask is that?" Eret was looking straight into Eric's eyes, searching for something to read in them.

"I lost someone to them."

Eret gave a short laugh.

"Gee, I've never heard that one before. Never met anyone who's lost family to a dra-"

"THIS IS DIFFERENT!" Erik shouted, interrupting the trapper.

"This is different" Erik repeated, softer, though his voice was wickedly cold. "I will pay if I have to die trying. And if you won't teach me how to trap dragons…. Then I will find someone who will."

Eret seemed to mull over the words in the long silence, rubbing his chin as he put on a thoughtful expression.

"Very well, Erik. You'll get your chance. We leave tomorrow morning at dawn. Don't be late."

And so Eret began training as a dragon trapper, ignorant to the fact that his little sister, Astrid, was two years into her training as a dragon rider.

The very thing he hoped to destroy.

* * *

**And there we you have it folks. Act 1 is done.**

**Now for a quick interlude chapter, then huge time skip, and then we are onto Act 2**

**Then we'll get onto the REAL story**

**See you guys then, and as always, have a good one**!


	11. Interlude: Valkyrie's Flight

_How I have changed._

_I have grown in ways I hardly imagined when I was younger, ways that I don't fully understand even now._

_I have become something more than what I was. Indeed I feel like I have grown into something that is more than any human was every meant to be. I have grown to befriend the enemies of mankind, and I feel like, in doing so, I am defying some divine edict. Like the gods planned for humans and dragons to be enemies for all eternity, and I am ruining that lockstep plan._

_Or perhaps it's the other way around._

_For surely, I was meant for this life. A life with Valka as my mother, Cloudjumper as my friend, and of course, Stormfly as an even closer friend. Surely Vikings and dragons are meant for something more than constantly killing each other, fighting a war that neither of them wish to fight._

_And yet….I am still caught in a war. Though a very different kind of war. Because I fight on the side of the dragons. _

_It's the dragons, Valka, and me against…. Well, everyone else._

_We fight trappers, warlords, slavers, pirates, and all manner of men (and women) across the Archipelago. Throughout the last decade of my life, I have seen little more the worst humankind has to offer, the men who are the reason wars begin._

_I know that it is just to fight them. I know that they are deserving of my wrath. I know that, in thwarting their plans and freeing their prisoners, I am making the world a better place. _

_And yet, I find myself feeling…. less than content._

_I have everything any Viking could ever want. I have become a warrior more skilled and powerful than most could even dream of. I have a family who love me for who I am, no matter my mistakes. And I am free as anyone in the whole world could possibly be._

_But there is one thing I feel I am lacking in my life._

_And that is purpose._

_Purpose. Something people waste their whole lives trying to find. Something people may not realize they have until they have lost it, for they don't recognize it for what it is. The ability to move towards a goal, and on that journey, make yourself a better person along the way. It is something I wish I had, and something I used to find in the life I have been living._

_But no longer. Because for every dragon that we free from the clutches of a trapper, three more are doomed to a live of slavery and misery. For every pirate ship we wipe of the map, three more are there to continue pillaging and raiding. And for every warlord we dethrone, there are three more to take his place._

_In short, the difference that Valka and I are making seems so very… miniscule._

_Because no matter how hard we fight, there will always be wicked men who haunt the world. No matter if we had a dozen, or a hundred, or a thousand more dragon riders, there would be men who get away with acts so violent, greedy, and cruel that it makes me sick just to think of them. It makes me even more sick to think that it cannot e stopped, no more than I could stop the tide from moving in and out, or stop the sun from setting at dusk and rising at dawn._

_And so I have no purpose, for my goal, the cleansing of evil from all the world, is impossible. _

_I still press onwards, though. I continue to fight this war, a war I don't believe we can ever end, much less win. Because Valka told me something that I have to believe in. _

_She told me that those who are good and just will always triumph over those who are evil and cruel. She told me that the things good people fight for; honor, friendship, and love, will are always stronger than the reasons that unjust men fight. _

_For community, friendship, love, and honor are things worth fighting for, because the principles behind each of these values are all the same._

_Selflessness. _

_A man who truly places something above himself will always be stronger than a man who places himself above all else. Stronger not in contest of the physical, but stronger in heart, which is more important by far. I say truly that a single selfless man has more value than a thousand selfish ones. _

_But do I hate men who are selfish? No_

_I pity them. Sometimes, I even weep for them._

_For I have known true friendship, and true love. I love Valka as a mother, and I love Stormfly as my dearest friend. I treasure that love more than anything in this world, and to see those who love only themselves is sad thing indeed. For that is not what we were made to be. _

_So do not pity me for my hard life. Do not pity me for fighting a war that I cannot win, even if I lived for a thousand years. For I fight for love, for peace, for justice, and for good._

_No, if you seek someone to pity, then pity those I fight. Pity those small-minded, stone-hearted men. For they fight for greed, revenge, anger, and hate, things that are worse less than their own miserable lives. If they can be made to turn away from their evil ways, to learn and grow into something that can make the world a better place, then let them prove it. For if they have the capacity to change, then that change should be a reason for celebration, a rallying point for those who believe our world is not beyond redemption._

_But some minds will not be changed. _

_To those men, men who are tainted and warped beyond the point of redemption, I am not Astrid Hofferson. No, Astrid is a person who knows mercy, love, and kindness, something not worth wasting on men such as these. _

_To all the evil men of the Northern Seas, I have made a new name for myself. A name whispered with fear._

_To those I hunt, I am known only as the Valkyrie._

_In our tongue, Valkyrie means 'Chooser of the Slain_

_ -Astrid Hofferson, Dragon Rider's Apprentice_


	12. Act 2: From on High

**I am on fire this week!**

**And now here we are. Onto chapter 12, and the beginning of act 2, which I am almost certain will be longer than act 1. **

**Also, there is a big time jump between this act and the last. By the time of this one, Astrid is now 20 years old.**

**And with that, lets get on with the story.**

* * *

The gentle swooshing of the waves was broken and twisted by a disturbance. The small wildlife and creatures that dwelt near the ocean surface broke away and scattered at the disturbance, for it was no natural phenomenon.

It was the result of a large black skip, cutting through the water like a giant shark. Menacing, dark, and intimidating.

"Captain sir, are you sure about this? This fog's giving me the creeps."

"Shut your mouth" The captain snarled. He was a great bear of a man, his face framed by a dark beard that seemed to shape his face in a perpetual scowl. This man, Captain Tarthac, was not a man to be trifled with. A man known for his viciousness and cruelty, he was as mean as any pirate who had ever sailed the Archipelago.

And yet, even he was more than a little unnerved by the strange, seemingly unnatural fog that had surrounded his ship just over an hour ago, blotting out everything after about a few yards in any direction. Tarthac constantly checked his compass to ensure that they were still heading in the right direction, though he did so discreetly.

He didn't want his crew to know that he was uneasy as they were.

The minutes ticked by slowly as the ship glided through the thick blanket of fog. The crewmen went about their usual tasks with practiced efficiency, though ever so often one of them would risk a glance out into the soupy mist, as if expecting something to leap out any second.

A half an hour later, one of the crewmen did see something.

"I saw something!' The man cried out, and everyone on deck jumped at the mans frightened cry. So a one, they all turned and ran to the ships starboard, where the man was pointing a trembling finger into the shifting white wall.

"What's the racket?!" roared Captain Tarthac, his voice carrying over the muttering and nervous whispers of his crew.

"There is something out there. I saw it. It was big and flying out over the water. It was gone before I could get a good look at it. But it's still out there. I can feel it."

The poor man's voice was shaking and uneven.

But the Captain just chuckled.

"So what? Probably just some stray dragon flying in for a look. If it leave, then we have no need to worry about it. If it comes back, well, then I'm sure we could bring it down and make some money off of it. I here Drago is paying handsomely for any dragon he can get his hands on."

Those words seemed to raise the spirits of his crew. Though only for a few moments, for a new voice entered the conversation. A voice that came from behind the captain. A voice that was as cold as ice, though undeniably female.

"I'm afraid your dragon trapping days are over, captain. You have much to answer for."

The captain turned around, fear knotting in his belly.

And there she was.

Standing on the other end of the ship, she seemed a wraith in contrast to the pure white fog that was her background. The was covered in leather armor of the darkest blue, almost black, while a cloak of deep scarlet trailed down her back. The upper half of her face was concealed behind a expressionless, frilled mask, though it didn't conceal the the long strands of golden blond hair that spilled down her back and across her shoulders. In her right hand, she carried a long, intricately carved spear, tipped with a wicked nadder spike.

For a moment, there was silence, except for the breathing of the crewmen, which was growing more panicky and quick by the minute. The woman, however, didn't move an inch. She was as still as a statue.

"So, you're the one they call the Valkyrie" Said Captain Tarthac, taking a step towards the woman and puffing out his chest. Whatever fear he may have had, it was outweighed by his pride.

The woman simply nodded.

"Hmmm" the captain continued "I thought you'd be….. taller."

"That's because you are a fool who confuses size with strength." The Valkyrie snapped.

"Fool, am I? It seems that you are the more foolish, girl. You dare to set foot on my ship, though we are thirteen, and you are only one." Tarthac's face spilit into a yellow-toothed grin. "You're outnumbered. You won't leave this ship alive. Drago Bludvist has put a hefty bounty on your head, and I mean to collect it."

"Really? " The Valkyrie's head tilted slightly to the side "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have no plans of dying today, nor anytime soon."

"Any of you, however" she continued, gesturing with her spear across the deck to the assembled crewmen "I will give you one chance to stand down. I have something to settle with your captain."

The crewmen glanced around nervously, wanting nothing more than to escape the attention and wrath of the dangerous woman, though none of them had the courage to be the fisrt to defy their vicious captain.

Tarthac was outraged.

"Trying to turn my crew against me?! I'll show you not to cross me. Men, fifty gold to the man who brings me her head! CHARGE!"

There was a second of hesitation, and then the crew broke into a fast run, letting loose battle cries that were tinted with more than a little fear.

They closed the distance, but the Valkyrie didn't move.

The closest man was ten feet away.

Then eight feet.

Then five feet.

Still, the Valkyrie stood rock still.

The closest man drew forth his sword and swung it at the statue-still girl.

Only did the Valkyrie move. And when she move, she was impossibly fast.

The first man didn't even know what hit him. The sword was knocked cleanly out of his hand, and an instant later he felt the butt of the spear plant into his chest. His own momentum carried him up and over the girl, the spear lifting him cleanly over the rail of the ship to splash into the ocean .

The next two came on together, moving out to the sides on order to flank the Valkyrie. The one on her left struck out, though a quick twist and a duck caused him to overextend right over the crouching girl, knocking the weapon out of his own friends hand. He then felt his legs swept out from under him by the Valkyries spear, and he was knocked unconscious as his head cracked against the hard rail.

The remaining nine crewmen spread out in a loose semicircle around the Valkyrie, none of them wanting to engage the deadly woman. The man how had been disarmed clutched at his hand, which had been laid open by his companions accidental strike on him. The first man floundered in the ocean, desperately trying to keep up with the drifting ship.

"Anyone want to surrender?" The Valkyrie asked.

The crewmen, like the jaws of a great iron trap, closed in on her.

But the Valkyrie just smiled, than lifted her fingers to he lips and let out a piercing whistle.

From out of fog, there came of volley of needle-like spines, flying right past the woman to hammer into the ring of approaching pirates. Most of them managed to duck, or have to spines glance of their tough shields. Two of them, though, didn't manage to dodge or block in time, and they collapsed as the spines found their way to skin, instantly releasing venom that paralyzed the men in seconds.

Now there were seven.

The Valkyrie smiled her cold, mirthless smile, and then charged forward.

Though she was surrounded and outnumbered seven to one, the Valkyrie seemed to be the only one who knew what she was doing in the mass of bodies. Whenever one of the crewmen struck out at her, they found their weapon batted away by the girls whirling spear. Or they would miss, seemingly by the barest of margins, as the Valkyrie shifted just enough to avoid each attack, then struck back with lightning quickness.

One man went down, clutching his weapons hand, for the bones of it had been shattered by a heavy stomp of the Valkyrie's foot as he reached for a fallen weapon. A minute later, two more men ended up accidentally cracking their skulls together as they charge the elusive woman, only to find themselves crashing into each other as the Valkyrie used her spear to pole-vault to safety. Those two now lay unconscious on the deck.

The remaining four men tried desperately to sort out the whirlwind of violence that was the Valkyrie. None of them even tried to score a hit on her anymore. Each of them was looking for a way to escape the reach of that deadly spear.

But those men weren't the Valkyrie's target.

Abruptly, she stopped her spinning dance and once more faced the only man on the ship who hadn't participated in the fight.

Captain Tarthac.

"You were selling collecting dragons to sell to Drago Bludvist." The Valkyrie said, her tone clipped, calm, and precise. She was barley breathing hard, even after the brutal fight. "I know you haven't sold them yet, so where are you keeping them. Where is the rest of your group?"

But if the Captain was intimidated, he didn't show it.

"You won't be getting away with this one, witch." From behind his back, he pulled out a crossbow, loaded and ready to fire. "See you in Helheim"

He leveled the crossbow at the woman, but before he could fire, Tarthac found himself knocked flat to the deck of his ship, and a gigantic clawed foot pinned him down.

"Thanks, Stormfly" Tarthac heard the Valkyrie say at the dragon, for it was indeed a dragon that had him pinned down the deck of the ship. A blue and yellow deadly nadder, to be precise.

Now the Valkyrie loomed over him, seemingly so much larger because of the fearsome mask and the fact that he was looking up at her from the floor.

"Where is the rest of your group?" She asked, using the exact same tone as before.

Once again, Captain Tarthac's pride was stronger than his fear.

"I won't tell you a damn thing. Kill me now, then, if you got the stomach for it."

"No, I don't think. I will"

"What's the matter? You're brave enough to betray your own people, but not brave enou-"

She kicked him in the face. Hard.

"I kill only when I need to. I doubt the same could be said for you. Men like you disgust me."

"And now" She continued "You will tell me where I can find you're little band. Or I will find a way to make you tell me."

The captain thought for a moment.

"Thor Rock" he said, feeling quite pleased with his clever lie…. Until a booted foot come down hard on his right hand, crushing his fingers with an audible grinding sound. He cried out at the sudden agony.

"Don't lie to me again. Or your other hand is next."

"Odin's Fist" Tarthac hissed through his clenched teeth.

There was a silence, and Tarthac braced himself, wondering if the volatile woman would attack him again. This time though, it seemed she detected the truth in his voice.

The weight of the dragon lifted off of him abruptly, and he looked to see the Valkyrie climbing onto the back of her dragon.

"If I ever meet hear of you trapping again." The girl said "I won't be merciful. Come on Stormfly. We've wasted enough time here already.

And with that, the blue nadder leapt into the sky, quickly vanishing behind the opaque wall of mist.

Leaving behind many injured, but no dead.

* * *

**Before we go any further, I think I have to explain exactly who the Valkyrie is. **

** The Valkyrie is indeed Astrid, but at the same time, it isn't. It is a title she has, but it also represents the fact that Astrid has a sort of alter ego. One that is violent, unpredictable, and maybe a little bit bloodthirsty. The creation of this alter ego is a result of both the life she has been living as well as her own temperment, and we will see it become something that clashes with her more gentle side as the story goes on.**

**One more thing before I leave you guys until next chapter, and it's the thing you have all been waiting for. Yup, chapter 13 is going to be the that adorable, awkward you and Viking and every ones favorite Night Fury.**

** Stay tuned for Hiccup and Toothless next chapter.**

** And as always, have a good one!**


	13. Act 2: Other Dragon Riders?

**Not even gonna say anything except for enjoy!**

* * *

Astrid crouched in the bushes surrounding the camp at the island of Odin's Fist, making certain to be as quiet as possible as she surveyed the hideout. The island was not a huge one, and spouted few trees, making it easy to spot the trappers camp from Stormfly's back in the air. Unlike a few such camps that Astrid had run into over the past few months, this one looked much more permanent, like a fort or base. Instead of easily collapsible tents and hastily constructed lean-to's, this camp was made of hundreds of interconnected, carved logs which formed a crude, but sturdy wall around it the entirety of the base. That wall was to tall to see past, and there was no opening through it except through the makeshift gate.

Getting past that wall would be simple. Getting past it without being seen would be considerably more difficult. Freeing every dragon in the place and making it out alive was…

_Well_, she thought, _there's nothing for it._

Though she hated it, Astrid was going to have to stay until nightfall if she wanted to pull off anything, even though she promised Valka she would be back by dusk. She managed to find the hideout, but if sooner or later, they would learn that their location was compromised, and she might not be as fortunate in finding their other bases if they decided to move.

So assuming the rat Captain Tarthac would get to them in about a day, the best time for Astrid to strike was that night.

* * *

She moved into the trappers' base like a wraith on the wind, slithering from shadow to shadow with the grace of a hunting cat. The moon was only a thin sliver in the sky, providing the tiniest amount of silver light by which to see. Of course the camp was lit with several torches, but they were few enough for the shadows to be abundant and deep. Even if she was spotted, she would be just one more silhouette.

Getting in through the front entrance was almost laughably easy, mostly because of the fact that the two men guarding it were sound asleep.

Inside the wall crude fort, rickety structures of wood and iron were strewn out all over the place, with a more or less central lane that ran all the way from one end to the other. Each only a few of the buildings were emitting any sort of light, and those that did had no more than a flickering candle.

But Astrid ignored everything but her objective. Every building was nothing more than another obstacle she needed to circumvent before reaching her goal.

The place where they were storing the captured dragons.

She moved between the buildings carefully, being extra careful not to trip on anything in the dark. There were a few men patrolling throughout the camp, one of which Astrid almost walked right into by accident, but managed to just barley get past without being seen.

And finally, she reached it.

Having seen the area where they kept the cages from the sky earlier with Stormfly, she hadn't quite grasped the just how many there were. Row upon row of the dragon sized cells were neatly organized at the southern edge of the camp.

Yet there was something off, Astrid noticed at once.

Every cage was empty.

There was hardly ever a time when a trapper camp would be without dragons stored for selling, unless they had sold all of their dragons in practically a single day. Astrid doubted that, because what she had learned over the past week or so told her that the base had been absolutely loaded with dragons, and no one warlord in the had the means to buy out that many dragons. If there was, she would know about it.

Astrid moved a bit closer to the row of cages, examining them as much as she could in the dark. On this closer inspection, she noticed two things.

First of all, the locks of most of the cage were simply… gone, looking like they had simply turned to liquid and melted away. Secondly, there was one cage occupied, though not by a dragon.

Holed up in one of the smaller cages was a woman.

She wasn't very tall, probably no more than a few inches over five feet, and fairly slender, though she looked to be around Astrid's age. She was dressed in a light brown leather tunic, with a matching pair of frayed pants, both of which looked a little bit worse for wear. Long black hair spilled down well past her shoulders, fine as dark silk.

The girl also looked rather relaxed, with her hands folded behind her head and her left leg throw casually over her right, and even as Astrid was watching, the girl let out a yawn, as if the entire idea of being locked up was incredibly boring.

Curious, Astrid stepped a little bit closer.

Despite her attempts at stealth, the girl seemed to notice her. Her gaze snapped upwards and immediately focused on Astrid. Apparently, she was much more alert and awake than she appeared.

"I already told you" The girl said. Her voice was high and squeaky. "I don't know anything abo- wait…. You're not a trapper."

"No" Astrid replied, trying to find something to say. She was a little off balance at how easily the other girl had noticed her stealth approach.

"There were dragons here. In these cages. Where are they now?"

"So rude." The girl said "Where I come from, it is at least polite to ask someone their name before interrogating them about dragon whereabouts."

"I don't care who you are, or why you are here." Astrid snapped. "You're probably some common criminal, though I wonder what would constitute to a crime in a place like this." She gestured vaguely to the camp around them.

"Oh really." The other girl snapped. "Well what if I told you that _I_ was the one who freed the dragons from their cages, not two days ago."

"Then I would say I don't believe you."

"Why not? Why else would those trappers be locking me up here. Can't you just take my word for it?"

"Trust is not something that is easy to come by" Astrid replied. "You have done nothing for me to show me that I can trust you."

"Fair enough" The girl said. "Though it is still the truth. I don't know what else to tell you."

There was a bit of silence that stretched out between the two.

"Well.." Astrid began slowly, breaking the silence "If you were the one who release the dragons-"

"I was"

"-then why did you?" Astrid finished, speaking as though she hadn't heard the other girl's interruption.

"Because I am don't believe in caging dragons. Dragons are kind, gentle creatures, though many people don't see that. I released them because one of my best friends is a dragon. I am a dragon rider." The girl paused and licked her lips. "And I think that you are one to."

_Another dragon rider? _Astrid thought. Of course, the girl had no way of proving such a thing was true, but her voice rang with a tone of undeniable sincerity that was hard to contradict.

Yet, Astrid had never heard of any other dragon riders before. For more than a decade, she had wandered the Archipelago and beyond, yet never once had she seen, nor heard of such a thing. It was possible, she supposed, and it would make sense to find a dragon rider locked up in a dragon trapper's camp, bu-

Her thoughts were cut short by a sound she had not heard in many, many years.

Out of the black sky came a high-pitched shrieking sound, one that cut through the air like a knife and rippled throughout the entire encampment.

"Well, it is about time" Astird heard the girl say, though she say, though shewas hardly paying attention as the shriek grew louder and louder.

**BANG!**

On the far side of the encampment, one of the buildings erupted in a blast of orange fire and violet plasma, rippling outwards through the night the way waves moved across water. Shouts of alarm were taken up, and within moments the whole hideout had erupted with noise and movement. Astrid back sidled around the cages as several men ran past. She crouched low and hissed to the girl inside.

"Friends of yours?"

The girl smirked, somewhat smugly.

"That's right. Took them long enough, though. Oh look, her comes one now."

Sure enough, Astrid just barely made out a large shape gliding down through the black smoke, skimming over top of the expanding fire. It was most assuredly a dragon, and a stocky, muscular one at that. As it got closer, Astrid was able to make out the long spine rigde, wide mouth, and whip-like tail trailing out behind it.

A Thunderdrum.

It swooped down towards the cages, slowing only a bare second before landing heavily on the ground. There was a large, brown leather saddle strapped across the back of the deep blue dragon, as well as a rider, who slid down with practiced ease.

"Mira, are you alright?"

"I'm fine" The girl, Mira, replied. "But you could work on your timing. Do you know how _boring _it is to be stuck in here day in and day out, without anyone one to talk to? Another day I I might have gone insane."

Meanwhile, Astrid hiding in the shadows behind the cage which held Mira, weighing her options. She could probably be long gone before the other girl even noticed she had left, due to her being distracted, and the boy having not noticed her yet. Stormfly was waiting for Astrid's call to come at a moment's notice. After all, she had come here to free the dragons, only to find they were already freed. Her work here was done.

And yet…

These were other dragon riders. Dragon riders. Living in the Archipelago, and she had never known it. Other people who didn't senselessly slaughter dragons.

She had to learn more about them.

She stepped out and stood tall before the boy, who was in the process of fiddling with some keys in the cages lock. The moment Astrid stepped out, the boy gave a yelp and almost jumped out of his boots.

"No it's ok." Said Mira. "She's not with the trappers."

"I am also a dragon rider." Astrid said

"Not to be rude." The boy responded, going back to fiddling with the lock. "But this isn't the best time to be having a conversa- Aha!"

The lock on Mira's cage snapped upon. The girl shoved open the cage as soon as she was able to, nearly smacking the boy in the face with the metal door. She stepped out, gave a big stretch, and turned once more to Astrid.

"Well, that's that then. Where out of here, if you want to come with us. By the way, I'm Mira, and this is Balder. Questions for later."

She turned back to the boy Balder.

"Where is Dusk?"

"Back at the camp"

"What?"

"She is safe enough there"

"I know she is safe. But my own dragon won't come to rescue me?"

"She-"

"Prisoner escape!"

The cry resounded throughout the camp, above the roar and crackle of fire. Mira and Balder both stopped their argument and looked in the direction where the shout came from. A group of about half a dozen men was caging towards where the three stood. They came on quickly, catching both Mira and Balder by surprise.

But not Astrid.

The two other dragon riders were momentarily stunned at watching the blur that Astrid had become, a whirling storm of dark blue and scarlet. None of the trappers could get past her, and the one who tried got both of his kneecaps smashed before he got even close to his goal.

"Come on!" Mira shouted to Astrid, but Astrid wasn't listening. In a distant corner of her mind, Astrid registered the other girls words, though it was a very distant corner.

The Valkyrie was in control. And the Valkyrie wanted blood.

More and more men started moving in around her, but the Valkyrie didn't care. The Valkyrie only saw the next the next opponent, the next victim, the next outlet for her rage.

For the Valkyrie, nothing else mattered.

Then there was a bang, and a flash of fire all around her, and an immense heat blossomed all around her.

Black shapes loomed over her. Dragons swooped all around the sky

Then something pulled her away from that intense heat. Great talons wrapped around her and pulled her into the sky.

It was Stormfly.

But she wasn't the only dragon there.

* * *

**Cliffhangery, I know. And I know I promise Hiccup and Toothless, and you only got hints of them. Don't worry. There is more to come.**


	14. Act 2: Pain and Past

**Had some issues with Mircosoft word, so this chapter is coming up a bit later than usual. Hope you all enjoy it though!**

* * *

There were three other dragons there, hovering above the smoke-filled trapper camp, across from where Stormfly was hovering, carrying Astrid. Mira and Balder were sitting on top of Balder's dragon, a great blue, older looking Thunderdrum. The other two riders, however, where what caught Astrid's attention most.

One of the riders was on a dragon that was several times larger than Stormfly, and far more intimidating. Though Astrid had never seen adragon of the particular species, Valka had told her plenty about it.

It was a boneknapper. Large and raptor-like, the dragon sported a coat of bones taken from the corpses of other dragons, forming a sort of macabre suit of armor that covered it's entire body. What was strange about this boneknapper, however, was the fact that it's armor coat was not bleach white.

Every bone covering it's body was glossy black, as if it were wearing a coat of carved obsidian.

The rider on its back was cut from the same cloth. Large, imposing, and covered in a suit of some dark, jagged metal Astrid did not recognize. A sword was strapped across his back, a sword that was nearly as long as Astrid was tall, with a crosspiece almost as long as her entire arm.

The other rider, in comparison, seemed exceptionally lean and thin, much different from the brawnier and tougher built men who lived in the northern reaches of the Archipelago. His outfit consisted of a suit of tight leather that covered him from neck to toe, and the color was a mixture of black, lick brown, and green. A ridged, black mask covered his face, rather than a more traditional helmet.

And that rider's dragon was of a kind that Astrid had never seen. Sleek and dark, it resembled a gigantic hunting cat with wings, as well as two sets of smaller fins that ran down its tail. Of the two fins at the end of the tail, one was black like the rest of the dragon, but the other was dark green, obviously artificially made.

The riders seemed to be conversing among themselves, too quietly for Astrid to hear, for she was keeping Stormfly back from them at a good distance, just in case one of them tried something.

It wasn't long for them to apparently came to some conclusion.

"It isn't safe here" The masked boy said, now speaking loudly enough to be heard over the crackle of flame. His voice was high and nasally, but filled with confidence.

"Come with us, and we'll talk when we get back to the camp."

* * *

It took the group about under an hour to get back to the camp that belonged to the other dragon riders., situated on an island not so far from Odin's Fist. Astrid and Stormfly followed diligently, though gave a wider berth to the other dragons thanthey did to each other. After all, one couldn't be too careful.

The small camp was hidden under a canopy of high reaching trees, making it almost invisible to see from above, though large enough for all of the dragons to fit comfortably, even the giant boneknapper. The riders wandered in one by one, sliding down off their dragons, then began unbuckling the saddles from them, with the exception of Astrid, as Stormfly had no saddle.

All in all, the camp was little more than a group of bedrolls circling a fire. There were pieces of travelling equipment strewn around all over the place, as well so much parchment that it was difficult to walk without stepping on any.

The thin, scrawny boy, evidently the leader, pulled off of his maks and ran a hand through his shaggy mask of rust colored hair. He then turned back to look at Astrid as the others continued to move about the camp.

"Well, here we are. It's not much, but it's home."

But Astrid had little patience for pleasantries.

"I want to know who you are." She blurted. "Where you come from, and why you are all here."

The boy who was riding the boneknapper, his face still hidden behind the dark metal of his helmet, seemed none too pleased.

"Who's asking?" He replied, his voice almost a snarl.

The leader kept talking like he hadn't heard the other boy.

"My name is Hiccup. I guess you have already met Mira and Balder. And he's Blade." Hiccup gestured to the armored boy, who made a faint noise of disgust. "Don't mind him, he doesn't like strangers. What's your name?"

Astrid stiffened.

"Among most people, I am called the Valkyrie. But my friends call me something else."

"What's that?"

"I don't need to tell you. I don't think I can call you a friend just yet."

Hiccup looked slightly miffed, but nodded after a few seconds.

"Fair enough, I guess. Well, if you join us for dinner, maybe we can change that."

And so, the five teens settled around the fire with their dragons. Balder set up a large pot that began to stew and steam, letting out a wonderful, crisp aroma.

Hiccup was happy to introduce each of the teens dragons to Astrid. Balder's dragon, the thunderdrum, was named Tempest, and was rather old and quite docile, though ultimately deadly. The boneknapper, covered in his armor of glossy black plates, was Shade, as much a fighter as his rider, Blade. Mira's dragon, the only one Astrid hadn't seen, was Dusk- a changewing- who was supposedly off hunting and due to be back soon.

And then there was Hiccup's dragon Toothless. A Night Fury, he explained. A Night Fury! Astrid might have been more impressed if she was not so intent on studying each of the riders

"Toothless?" Astrid asked , for the black dragon displayed a formidable row of needle –sharp teeth.

"Ya, long story. Name kinda stuck when I first met him." Hiccup said, rubbing his dragon briskly on the head, drawing out a croon of contentment.

Hiccup.

The name rang over and over in Astrid's head. She was sure the name should have had some kind of significance to her, but her mind refused to give up any kind of information of the name. After all, it was a name that came from somewhere in her past, before she had become a dragon rider. A past that she had tried to forget.

Yet the thought stayed with her, sitting annoyingly in the back of her mind.

"Anyways." Hiccup continued "We've all trained dragons, and now we travel the world together…. Mostly looking for other people like us, because we were driven out of our villages. People don't really look kindly on those who sympathize with dragons." He finished the sentence sadly, though Astrid found no pity for him. He was only as reject as she was, after all.

"But enough about us. Who are you?"

"I am called the Valkyrie. And I fight the trappers, pirates, and warlords all over the ocean. That's all you need to know."

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but the boy Blade cut him off.

"Really? I don't believe you. I have half a mind to think you are hiding something from us, so spill it. We've told you about us. And you won't even show us your face. What's wrong? Why do you have to hide behind that mask?"

Astrid felt a shot of anger flow through her, felt the Valkyrie side rising, but she savagely suppressed it. Now was not the time. When she answered back, her voice was calm, steady, though carried the faintest tinting of anger in it.

"This mask is the face I choose to show. It's a face I have made men learn to fear. It is the face that those people around me see, because that is what I wish for them to see. Only my friends, who accept me for what I truly am, see my true face."

The only sound was the crackle of the small fire for a long, long time.

"But… what if we want to be your friends?" Mira asked "Then we have to see who you truly are."

Astrid laughed mirthlessly

"Perhaps if you knew who I was, and all of the thing I have done, you would not be so quick to call me a friend."

"Well" Said Hiccup, "I am willing to try. Take off the mask."

Astrid's instinct was to refuse again, but she hesitated. Over the past decade or so, she had had little contact with humans, unless battling and killing counted as contact. The only other human she could call a friend now was Valka. She felt her Stormfly's gaze boring into her from behind, even as she leaned back against the nadder's side.

Perhaps it was time to stop hiding.

Hiding? Was that what it was?

She didn't have time to consider that right now. She pulled off her mask.

Her golden hair spilled out and cascaded down her shoulders in a shining wave, wild and bright. Some days, she would have had Valka braid it for her, but for the most part she preferred to wear it long. She glanced a second longer at the mask than she meant to, then looked back at the assembled riders.

There was a gasp.

"Astrid?"

That one word, spoken by _him_, and it all came flooding back to her.

Hiccup. Perhaps the least Vikingly Viking Astrid had ever met, at least in some ways. Indeed, it was just those things that were different about him that Astrid remembered. His quirkiness, his sarcastic attitude, and most of all, his habit of being around when accidents happened (not _all_ of them were his fault…)

Astrid could see that boy she once knew, sitting now as an adult in front of her. He was certainly skinner and leaner than an average Viking man. Indeed, he was skinny for a Viking period. His mass of auburn hair was wild and shaggy, slightly longer than it had been in his youth.

And those eyes. Those wide, bright eyes hadn't changed a bit. A younger Astrid had remembered those eyes, those eyes that were the color of fresh leaves, of pine needles, the colo-

The Valkyrie came rising within her, blotting out that face. That wall of anger came, denying her past, though Astrid struggled to control. But it was persistent. Nearly a decade of blotting out her past was now returning to her.

"I… I am not the Astrid you knew" She stood up and turned away. It was so much to take in. She needed time to breathe, to think. It was all coming back to her, and all too fast. The memories surged and blended together like a tidal wave, gaining power and strength as it surged against her mind. The wave clashed with the instinctive wall of rage she had used to battle it for years. But unlike before, those memories had a focal point from which to start from, a focal point the Valkyrie side of her could not crush.

"Wait!" Hiccup called, running up to her from behind as she started to walk away. He grabbed her shoulder.

A critical mistake.

In Astrid's moment of turmoil and vulnerability, the Valkyrie lashed out.

It all happened in a blur, too fast to be followed. The Valkyrie spun around, her foot lashing out to knock Hiccup off of his feet. Her spear came down even as he tumbled, screaming downwards towards his throat.

And there it stopped, resting below his chin. No one in the camp dared move, stunned as they were.

Astrid blinked.

It had only taken only a fraction of a second. A fraction of a second where she lost control, and she had nearly killed Hiccup, all because he was a piece of her past she hadn't been able to accept.

She trembled, stepping back from Hiccup, her spear falling from nervous fingers. Hiccup was starting up at her from the ground, eyes clouded by confusion, but no anger. The other three teens all had their hands on their various weapons, but making no move towards her. Blade in particular looked ready to explode.

But the fight was gone from Astrid. She had lost control for a single moment, and she had almost destroyed him.

Shame brought tears to her eyes. Without even bothering to pick up her spear, she ran to Stormfly, leapt on her back, and they took off together.

Astrid fled from the past, and the pain.

* * *

**So much Cliffhangerness! Thank you to everyone who reviews, favorites, and follows. You guys are the best.**

** Anyways, have a good one!**


	15. Act 2: Daughter to Mother, Mother to Son

**And were back for this weeks update. I might be able to get another update in before this week is out but we'll see. **

** Anyways, here we go. Things only get darker from this point forward. Hold onto your hats.**

* * *

She bade Stormfly to carry her as far away as possible, as fast as possible. She didn't know where they were going, or even where they were, but that was not an issue. Her dragon could find the way back to the dragon sanctuary no matter how far they were from it, or how lost they became. But even if she was by herself, even if she had to swim in the icy cold waters below, Astrid would still be fleeing.

For the first time in years, Astrid was crying.

She had always known there was a part of her that was violent. A warrior born, she liked to think of herself. But now it was more than that. She had built up a wall of anger at the world, made to protect her from the atrocities she was forced to witness. But, as she learned, that darker side could be dangerous.

Even to those she considered friend.

But then that was brought a whole set of new questions with it. Did she consider Hiccup a friend? Surely not, after so many years apart and their disastrous meeting. The fact that he had apparently learned to ride a dragon- a night fury, no less- wasn't enough.

Because she couldn't be sure that if she met him again, their encounter wouldn't turn out the same way. Or even worse.

Astrid put her face in her hands, and she heard Stormfly croon in sympathy. It was too much. She was tired. She didn't know how she felt, let alone how she was supposed to feel.

Valka was worried as only a mother could be when Astrid had not returned home in the evening, even though it was not the first time such a thing had happened. Only the only reason she hadn't gone out looking for her was her Cloudjumer, who steadfastly refused to let Valka's love for Astrid muddle her judgement.

That is, when Valka jumped on his back, be rolled over and fell asleep.

Of course, that meant Valka was left pacing back and forth, chewing on bad thoughts.

She didn't need her dragon to make the arguments for the girl. She already knew what he would say (that is, if dragons could speak like humans)

Astrid was more than capable at taking care of herself, and flying off blindly in the dark was less than likely to help Astrid if she was indeed trouble.

Hell, she was probably more capable of dealing with anything out there than Valka herself.

But that didn't mean she was invincible. Valka had only ever had to go after her once, and it had taken two days for Cloudjumper to track down Astrid, who had been recovering from a broken leg out on a remote island for to the south. The girl hadn't been able to ride without experiencing tremendous pain, let alone walk. They hadn't been able to return to the sanctuary of over a week.

Valka shivered at the memory.

Then she paced.

And paced.

And paced.

And paced.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she almost missed exactly what she had been waiting for.

Stormfly glided silently into the sanctuary, moving towards her favorite perch, overlooking the pool where the great white Alpha slept.

With a sigh of relief, Valka went over to greet them.

But there was something wrong, Valka knew almost instantly. She couldn't make out much in the dark, but she was sure Astrid did not look… right. Her shoulders were more slumped, her head more bowed, and she looked… drained.

"Astrid, are you alright?"

The girl slid down from her dragon's back, giving no indication that she had even heard Valka. Her mask covered up her face, and so Valka could only guess at the expression that lay beneath.

"Astrid" Valka said, this time a little bit louder.

The evidently heard this time, for she jerked as if suddenly awakened from a deep sleep.

"I… I thought you would be asleep"

Her voice was shaky, soft, and quiet. Yes, there was definitely something wrong.

"Astrid, what's the matter?" Valka asked, concern now growing in her voice.

"It's nothing"

"No, it isn't. Astrid you can te-"

"It's _nothing,_ alright!" Astrid snapped.

Valka was stunned as simply stared at Astrid for several seconds, watching as Astrid's face shifted across a dozen different emotions, ranging from anger to fear to frustration, and finally ending in sadness.

"I'm sorry auntie Val. I… it's been a long day. I don't want to talk about it just yet."

Whatever it was, Valka thought, it was certainly something out of the ordinary. Astrid was normally unshakably confident. Always calm, always collected. Always in control.

But just by listening to her voice, Valka could tell that it was not the case. She could hear the shuddering in Astrid's voice, could see the jerking of her shoulders.

She was crying.

"Astrid, take off the mask."

Astrid appeared a bit startled for a second, as if only then realizing that the mask had been covering her face. She reached up to her face to grab it, but suddenly hesitated. Her hand paused only hand inch or so away,

"Take it off, Astrid."

The mask came off and thudded to the ground, seemingly having more weight than it actually did.

Astrid's face was streaked with tears. Her eyes were red and puffy, a sharp contrast to her ocean blue irises. She had composed herself enough to put on a straight face, though it was marred by the twin streaks of salty tears that trailed from her eyes down her face.

Valka moved forwards and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Don't ever think you need to hide this from me. Ever."

There was a long, tense silence, then Valka felt Astrid shudder in her arms. In her mind's eye, Valka saw her again as a little girl, afraid and alone. As she used to do, Valka simply held her tightly, letting her presence serve as an anchor for Astrid, holding as the tears washed away the hurt and sorrow.

"I-I met s-someone. O-other.. d-dragon riders." Astrid managed to gasp out.

"Shhh… it's alright. Don't try to talk. We can discuss it in the morning. Shh.."

On the inside, Valka's mind was whirling. Other dragon riders? She knew that there were men all over the Archipelago trapped and controlled dragons, but she had never heard of one who could control them to the point of making them ridable. And even if that were so, what could have happened that had left Astrid so shaken.

The thoughts bounced through Valka's head as she guided Astrid to her bed, biding her a good night and encouraging her to get some sleep. But unlike Astrid, Valka was not going to get any sleep at all this night.

"Stormfly." She whispered to the nadder "Show me where you found these other dragon riders. I wish to see them… personally."

And so, not a few minutes later, Valka and Cloudjumper took off and hurtled out of the sanctuary, following closely behind Stormfly.

* * *

"So you're telling me that the person who just tried to kill you is a friend of yours who you thought was dead for eleven years now… and you want to go after her?!"

Hiccup rubbed his forehead with his hand, tying to ease his growing headache.

"Ya, that pretty much sums it up."

None of the party had been able to get any sleep that night, not after the incident with the mysterious Valkyrie- or Astrid, as Hiccup called her. Of course now, not half an hour after she had gone, Hiccup had formed a plan to go after her.

Despite the fact that she had nearly killed him.

"I don't know why she almost killed me." Hiccup continued, "I guess I must have scared her or something. But think of it this way. If she wanted to kill me, I'd already be dead."

"I wouldn't be so quick to test her a second time" said Blade. Out of the group, he was the one most distrustful of strangers, and so he was the most opposed to Hiccup's plan.

"But I know her. She-"

"You _knew _her, Hiccup" Blade interrupted "That-that… she is not your childhood friend anymore, Hiccup. Open your eyes."

The Mira and Balder listened from off to one side, nervously looking back and forth between Blade and Hiccup. The four dragons twitched in agitation, wondering in a fight was about to break out.

Hiccup breathed in deeply.

"I know what I saw." He said slowly "And I know that she deserves a second chance. I need to know if the real Astrid is still there."

Blade snorted.

"Well, I'll tell you what I saw. I saw someone who I have now reason to trust, and even less to like, try to kill my friend. If that happens again." He glanced meaningfully over his shoulder to the giant sword strapped to his back "Then she won't get away so easily"

"Blade!" now it was Mira who spoke "You wouldn't!"

Blade's helmeted face turned to look at Mira, giving away no expression to the others.

"I do what I must."

"Well, fine then" Hiccup said "You may think it's a bad idea, but I'm going. I don't give up on my friends so easily."

"I told you she's not your friend anymo-"

There was a rustling in the bushes around the camp, causing everyone to freeze. Out of the foliage, appearing as smoothly and casually as if it was at home, was a blue nadder.

The same nadder Astrid had been riding.

Her rider was nowhere to be seen, but another rider was. Moving in behind the nadder, the new rider stood tall atop a light brown stormcutter, which dwarfed all of the dragon sin the clearing except for Blade's Boneknapper. The rider wore Suit of leather armor, similar to the other had worn , though it was shot with more scarlet, and the mask covered her entire face, rather than just the upper half.

"I want to know who you are, and what you did to my daughter." The new rider's voice was hard, cold, and, like the one before, female.

"Great" Hiccup heard Blade whisper off to the side "How many more are we going to have tonight?"

Though he had spoken softly, the masked rider's ears were keen enough to catch the words. Her head snapped around as her eyes locked onto the boy, sizing up his black-armored form.

"You" the rider's words came out in a hiss "I heard you threaten my daughter. If you ever do that again. I'll make sure you don't get away so easily."

"Ok, ok, ok" Hiccup said, moving between Balde and the dragon rider "Listen we don't want any trouble with you, or your daughter, or any of your other dragon riding friends. We just wanted to ask a few questions, that's all. We don't need to fight do we. I mean, where all dragon rider's here."

The other rider showed no reaction to the words.

"I will talk… but first you must. What did you do to my daughter."

"We didn't do anything to her." Hiccup said quickly before Blade could make any kind of retort. "well, we invited her to our camp, we talked and then she left."

"And what was it that you talked about?" The rider asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.

"I… I thought I recognized her."

"Really?"

"Yes. I think she we lived on the same island."

That garnered the greatest reaction from the masked rider yet. She was silent for a moment, then let out a gasp. She leapt off of her dragon and approached Hiccup.

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Umm… tw-twenty years."

"What's your name?"

Blade stood up.

"Back off, lady. I do-"

"What is your name?" The rider asked, completely ignoring Blade. Mira and Balder watched the exchange in mute silence.

"Hi-Hiccup. Why?"

There was another gasp. The rider placed her hand on her chast and stumbled backward. She would have fallen over if her dragon hadn't caught her from behind, supporting her upright as her breathing suddenly became very heavy.

"Do I know you" Hiccup asked.

"No" the rider replied "But I know you"

"How?"

The rider pulled off her mask.

"Because you are my son."

* * *

**Ooooooohhhhhhhh, yaaaaaaaahhhhhh! It's all coming together. **

**Anyways, I got a question for you guys. It's about what story I'm going to do after this one. **

**This story is still far from finished, but I want to get started on the planning for the next one as soon as possible and I want to know what you guys want. I have two ideas.**

** The first is a do a school of dragons story, based on a new generation of dragon riders (Which might contain elements from the upcoming part of the TV series, Race to the Edge). This option might be a continuation of my current story, just several years after this one ended.**

** The second one I have is a modern, super-hero AU, where the gang of six is a group of half dragons, again, mostly based off of Astrid's point of view.**

** So let me know what you guys think. I might end up doing both of them anyways (eventually) but I want more opinions.**

** And that's all. Follow, Favorite, Review, and as always, Have a good one.**


	16. Act 2: Justify

**For this week, I am for sure going to be getting up two chapters, as I have the next one all but done already. Anyways, as always, I hope you all enjoy this next chapter.**

* * *

Silence reigned over the small camp as Hiccup and his friends stared at Valka, shocked beyond words. Movement came only in the form of flickering of flames and uncomfortable shifting of the five dragons. They could sense the tension crackling through the air, and no one knew who was going to speak first.

_Well _Valka thought _that went pretty much as expected._

It was Hiccup who spoke first. Or rather, stuttered.

"I thought… what… E-everyone thought you were dead."

Valka nodded. Her head was bowed, and her shoulders slumped.

"That is what you were supposed to believe." She said sadly "That is what everyone was supposed to believe"

She sighed heavily.

"But why?" Hiccup asked, his voice pleading like that of a child "Why did you have to leave? What happened?"

Valka looked up, staring at him with sad eyes.

"Did your father never tell you?"

"No"

"Well" Valka replied "It all started before you were born."

A pause, a deep breath.

"I was born into a society that did not accept me. Berk was a land at war, a land still at war, with dragons. But I believe I could change that."

"I was young. I was naïve. No one listened to me. I tried, over and over and over, but there was no one who would even consider a peaceful solution. There was too much history. Too much bloodshed. Needless to say, I had few friends."

"I never harmed a dragon. Never. Every time they came, I would try to mitigate as much damage as possible. Save lives. Stop fights. But everywhere I looked, there was more death. More pain."

"I began to see the futility as I grew older. I grew up. I married, and I became with child. You."

Valka's could see it all again. She remembered the village. She remembered the people who scorned her, mistaking her desire for peace as cowardice. But mostly, she remembered him.

Stoick.

"You father was one of those few people who I ever called friend. He loved me, even if we didn't exactly agree on everything."

"Then , one night, when you were only a babe, a dragon broke into our house, and found you in the cradle."

"I rushed in to protect you, thinking I would finally be forced to kill a dragon. But… then I saw something that proved everything I believed."

"The dragon did not attack you. He seemed… almost curious. And it was at that point that I realized beyond doubt that I had been right."

"But it couldn't last. Your father came in to see the dragon standing over men, and he attacked it. I tried to make them stop, but it wasn't enough. The dragon set the whole house ablaze, and then carried me away."

"We all nearly died, all because I couldn't make myself kill a dragon."

Dead silence filled the campsite, with everyone one staring at Valka as she finished her story.

Surprisingly, it was Balder, the quietest of the group, who spoke up first.

"So then you never came back? You just stayed away for years, and everyone thought you were dead."

"Go back to what?' Valka retorted "Life on an island where I was hardly accepted, let alone welcome? No, I have found my place, and I am the better for it."

"Besides" She continued. "Have you yourselves gone back. Have any of you tried to go to your tribes and asking them to accept you back?"

There were some guilty looks around the fire, but Blade looked nothing more than insulted.

"Well, _I _at least had the guts to stand up for what I believe in. I told my entire tribe exactly what I thought, and when they disagreed, I flew off with Shade. _I _didn't have to sit on my hands and wait for some dragon to barge in and take me away from a family I never loved."

Valka tensed, and Cloudjumper let out a low, quiet rumble. She turned towards Blade, her emerald green eyes locking with his flat grey ones.

"If you think that I stay away because I do not love then, you are sadly mistaken."

Blade opened his mouth to say something, but Hiccup beat him to it.

"We don't think that" Hiccup said, casting a scathing glance at Blade, who seemed not to notice "But why did you stay away?"

"The same reason as all of you, probably." Valka said "I could not go back to that life, and if anyone knew of my… differing view, but couldn't reach me, they could still attack my family."

"So you choose to become a faceless dragon rider" Hiccup reasoned. "Because if anyone knew who you were, they would retaliate by attacking Berk."

"Yes" Valka replied "And I have had no shortage of enemies over the years. Pirates, warlords, but mostly, dragon trappers."

She glanced at the dragon dozing behind Hiccup, black and sleek. She especially noticed the artificial tailfin, a replacement from what had obviously some sort of accident. Or trapper maliciousness.

"It seems you already know what I mean when I talk about trappers" she said to Hiccup, jerking her chin in his dragon's direction.

He stared at her for several seconds, apparently confused.

"Umm. What?"

"Your dragon. His tail is wounded. Was this not done my a trapper?"

"Oh, right that" Hiccup said, suddenly sounding very nervous "Well, not exactly. You see… well… it's sort of… complicated."

"Complicated?"

"He shot down Toothless when he first he first me him and when Toothless crashed he lost his tail fin." Mira piped in.

Both Valka and Hiccup shot glances at the girl, who tried her beast to look contrite. But both of them could see the mischief in her eyes.

"Ya, well, when you put it that way-" Hiccup started to say.

"Don't worry" Valka said "I'm sure no harm was intended, and that if it was, you have learned. After all, I doubt you wouldn't be riding this dragon if it had reason to hate you."

The dragon behind Hiccup purred and nuzzled him, as if to confirm Valka's statement.

"Anyways, how did you come by Astrid?" Valka asked "And what happened?"

"Well" Hiccup replied "I think we were all hoping to ask you the same thing. All I really remember of her were memories as child. Wasn't she taken by a dragon when she was-"

"-nine years old." Valka finished for him "Yes, eleven years ago, almost to the day, Cloudjumper" She gestured backwards to her dragon "brought her back to our dragon nest. She almost died, having breathed in too much smoke, though I believe she might have sustained far worse of Cloujumperhadn't gotten to her in time."

"And then" Hiccup asked "You never took her back? Did she never get to make the same choice for what she chose to do with her life?"

There was a pause and a long silence as Valka mulled the question over. It had been a long, long time since the day since Astrid had arrived in the sanctuary, and Valka had to admit that she hadn't really thought about whether or not Astrid would wish to return. She remembered breaking news to the girl that she couldn't go back, that it would be too dangerous for her to live the life she once had, and she remembered trying to comfort her after.

Never did Valka look back on that design. And never did Astrid bring it up. Well, at least not to Valka's face.

"I made the choice for her because it was the only safe one." Valka said, her tone one of finality that brooked no disagreement. "To take her back to her village would raise too many dangerous questions that she wouldn't be prepared to answer. If they found out she had been _saved_ by a dragon, she would be lucky to only be banished."

"And I could not take her to another village" She continued ", for there are few enough generous tribes as it is, and even they would be not willingly take in a child, especially a girl child. She would have just been one more mouth to feed, and she would have had no family to support her."

"So you raised her and made her into…into… what?" Hiccup asked "A vigilante who fights for what you tell her? A puppet who dances on your stings?!" There was an edge of anger in his voice now.

But Valka was not deterred.

"I gave her a chance to make the world a better place. I showed her something beautiful and precious, something she now fights for with conviction. I gave her a purpose beyond anything she would have found on Berk!'

Blade apparently decided now was a good time to push his way into the conversation again.

"So you trained her to become a murderess."

Cloudjumper let out a tremendous bellow, bounding towards the seated boy till they were practically an inch apart. Blade's boneknapper let out a roar of his own and slammed into Cloudjumper sending him skidding backwards.

"STOP!" Valka's voice rang throughout the camp, stopping Cloudjumper from flying at Blade again. She turned to looked back at her, and he slumped in a remorseful way, though Valka could hardly blame him. She herself had hardly been able to restrain herself after Blade's comment.

She then walked up to Blade, who was still sitting back calmly, his posture casual. His dragon Shade hovered right behind his shoulder, eyeing her with suspicion.

She stared down directly into Balde's eyes, though she noted one of his hands had moved behind his back, probably to some hidden weapon.

"I trained Astrid to survive in a world that would not accept her. I trained her live in a world that would try it's best to kill her. Together we have fought men who have no respect for life or freedom. We brought down Cargan the Bloodthirsty, a man cut off the wings of dragons before sending them back into the wilds to die. We banished Orin the Mighty, who forced his prisoners, human and dragon alike, to resort to cannibalism in order to keep themselves live, or otherwise starve. That is the world she lives in. That is the world _we _live in. That is the world I have trained her to face."

"It is not an easy life, nor is it an enviable one, but she does much good by living it. If she did not make herself the person she was now, she would not have survived."

"Besides" Valka continued "You are hardly in the position to point fingers, Blade of the Fire Stone tribe."

For the first time, Blade looked completely bewildered.

"How-how did you-"

"Your armor" Valka interrupted, gesturing to his suit of black iron plates "gave you away. And I know have known more than a few men from your tribe, and I must say, I find their lack of mercy and their bloodthirst rather disturbing. I wouldn't wave that particular brush to liberally if I were you."

All of the others in the group were surprised when Blade had now witty comeback, no scathing retort. Valka's gaze swept over all of them.

"It is late, and I must return. You are all welcome to stay at my sanctuary."

"Is it safe?" Mira asked.

"Safe as anywhere these days" Valka replied "Though for a dragon rider, that is not saying much."

* * *

**And that is that. What do you think? Be sure to follow, favorite and review. I'll probably have the next chapter up by tomorrow or the day after, so I'll see you then.**

** As always, have a good one.**


	17. Act 2: Dance

**As I promised, here is the second part of the two chapter feature this week. I actually wrote most of this one before I wrote the last one, and hey, looks like it worked out pretty good. **

**Also, as of the last chapter, thanks to all of you guys, I have reached 100 followers on this story! Ya! Never thought my first story would be this popular! Thank you all so much.**

** Finally, I got a few people who were asking questions last chapter, so once I answer those, I'll jump right in to the story.**

** And here are the questions**

** First off, the reviewer ** **T****hearizona says:**

**Great chapter and some background. Though where did everybody come from and why? That is the one question plaguing my head is when, why hiccup left and the who, what, when, where and how for his friends on well, everything! Is that in the future at some point?**

** Answer: I will be trying to put in some background for the entirety of Hiccup's gang, though we will see exactly how deeply we go into each character. After all, I still want the focus to be on the more 'main' character. But there will definitely be more background coming up.**

**Guest reviewer ****Toolazytologin says: Okay, I love the story so far, but I've got some questions and notes:**

**1) Is there going to be some Hiccstrid Moments? (I'm a fan of that pairing, but it's ok if there isn't. I'm still gonna read this. I love the concept of it.)**  
**2) Is ASTRID (Not the Valkyrie) going to be supper awkward towards Hiccup's group? (Since she grew up with dragons and had no human contact, except Valka.)**  
**3) Will Astrid have a better understanding of dragons than Hiccup? (Lets face it the boy is a dragon nerd, but she grew up with dragons.)**  
**4) Is Valka going to be protective of Astrid, especially with Hiccup's group? (Since she kind of forced her ideals into a nine years old little girl and raised the kid into a bad-a** liberator for dragons.)**  
**5) Are we going to see Eret again? (We only saw him in Act 1. I miss you Eret and your voice actor is hot. Kit Harrington! JON SNOW! Different Fandom, I know, but hey, they both have dragons in them.)**  
**Final note: Can we see some Astrid personality clash with Valkyrie personality during a fighting scene, because I find it hard to believe Astrid (especially) would want some blood. She maybe violent, but I don't think she wants to kill anybody. Let the Valkyrie have a some fault.**  
**Final Final note: Hey, take your time in updating, just don't go dying on us. Can't wait for the next chapter. Keep at it.**

**Answer: **

**1: There will most definitely be Hiccstrid**

**2: Potentially, though maybe not as awkward as you may think. Valka, after all, lived alone with dragons for twenty years and was still able to relate with humans fairly well.**

**3: Yes, though not by a huge margin. Hiccup has also spent some time with Toothless over the last several years.**

**4: Valka going to be protective of her for sure, especially when Blade is around. Even though Astrid can take care of herself... or can she? (Muahahahahaha)**

**5: I will try and fit Eret in if I can, though I will say it may not happen. In addition to Astrid, Valka, Hiccup and his gang, there is going to be more on Drago, Erik Hofferson (Astrid's brother), Stoick, the original gang from Berk, and maybe Astrid's parents (Yes, we will go back to Berk... eventually) I won't try and force him into the story, but I will look for an opportunity**

**6: Astrid and Valka are definitely going to clash at some point, though not necessarily over an issue of killing. Neither of them are fond of killing, as a general principle, despite Valka demonstrating that she was willing to do so in act 1. They both try to avoid it whenever possible, though they also understand that some problems can be solved in no other way.**

**Anyways, as always, enjoy.**

* * *

Corpses.

Corpses everywhere.

Corpses that spread as far as the horizon, and then far beyond that.

Astrid was sickened.

She moved among the piles of corpses, searching for someone, anyone, any_thing_ living in the vast, dead wasteland.

But all she found were carrion birds, feasting on death.

And then…. there was a figure. A figure dressed in black, with a dark hood covering their head, shrouding their features from view. The figure was moving towards Astrid, callously stepping on and over the plies of dead bodies.

"Who are you?!" Astrid called out, though her own voice sounded far, far away.

But the figure heard her. It changed its path to move more directly towards Astrid. Before long, they stood across from each other.

Close enough for Astrid to see the blood covered spear clutched in the figure's hand.

"Did you do all this?" Astrid asked, her voice betraying the horror she was just beginning to feel. "Did you kill all of these people?"

The figure nodded, and there was something mocking in the gesture. Then it spoke, in a voice that was soft, dangerous, and sickeningly familiar.

"I did this, but why does that surprise you? After all, we know each other so very well."

The figure drew back it's hood.

The stranger's face was Astrid's face, a perfect reflection.

The false Astrid smiled, even as the real one stumbled back in horror.

"You cannot escape who you are, Astrid." She imposter said mockingly. "You are a killer."

She ran. Astrid ran and ran. Ran till she felt like she could run no longer, and then she ran faster. But she was not alone. Always, that mocking voice- her own voice- followed her.

"You are the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie is a murderer."

"There is no escaping your fate."

* * *

Astrid woke with a start, gasping for breath as if she had been drowning, but forced herself to calm down, taking in deep breaths. She closed her eyes again, telling herself over and over that it was just a dream. Just a dream.

Just a dream.

She was in her room, a fairly spacious cave meant to be slept in by both her and Stormfly together. Unlike the cave Valka slept in, the roof of this one was not made of stone, but a thin sheet of ice that let a limited amount of sunlight filter in through the cracks. Judging by the amount of light, in was morning by now.

Stormfly, though, was conspicuously absent.

Got out of the bed, dressed, and splashed her face with the ice cold water that trickled down from the small icicle into a pool at the far end of the cave. She was surprised to find that Stormfly was gone, as the dragon was usually the one to wake her up in the morning, though she wasn't alarmed. She might have gone fishing early, for all Astrid knew.

And yet, there was something out of place, Astrid sensed. Something that was there that shouldn't be. It was an eerie feeling, making the shiver crawl down Astrid's spine, but she brushed it off as an after-effect of her dream. Grabbing her spear, she set off to the cave entrance.

Wait, her spear? Hadn't she lost it last night? Hadn't she come home without it? And yet, there it was, leaning on the wall beside her bed, the same place it was always kept, as if it had always been there.

Or had the events of the previous day also been a dream?

Astrid shook her head. It couldn't have been a dream. It was all so vivid, so real. So... so…

Maybe she was going insane.

* * *

She had pushed everything to the back of her mind. Every bit of clutter and annoying thought was shoved away to a far corner, as it was every morning.

And she began, as she did every day, with a dance.

The moments were slow, almost comically slow, as if she were suspended underwater and force to go through the movements of a fighting exercise. She moved her spear through the air gracefully, swinging it out wide one minute, then brining it in close the next. Never did her balance waver, and never was a move less than perfect.

This was how she learned to fight. Over and over, she repeated every technique, every stance, every single attack and defense she had ever learned, heard of, or invented. They seemed to flow from her, one after the other, each one honed to perfect precision. Every parry was followed by a counter, every dodge became an attack. The dance went on and on, timeless, endless, eternal.

Then it began to speed up.

Lunges moved Astrid across the entire room in the blink of an eye, parries that were followed so quickly by a riposte than an opponent would be hit before they even realized their attack missed. These were the movements of the perfect warrior.

And yet, these were the movements of Astrid Hofferson, not the Valkyrie. These were the moments of a perfect athlete, pursuing their chosen talent with unsurpassed vigor. They were not the movements of a passionless killer.

Within the dance, Astrid found herself.

Her movements became even faster, achieving a speed most could not achive. Her spear, moving like an extension of her are, was like a bolt of lightning striking for no more than an instant, then pulling back to attack at another angle. Her feet seemed no more than a blur, never leaving her in one place form more than a single moment. And yet those same feet may have been detached from her upper body, for all the effect they had on her body. From the waist up, the only thing that seemed to move were her arms.

"Hello?"

The sound of the voice shattered Astrid's concentration. Having just planted her spear in the ground and used it to push of the floor in a vault that should have ended in a graceful roll, it was the absolute worst time to be interrupted. Instead of coming down smoothly, her hands slipped down the haft of the planted spear, and her planned roll turned into a hard fall that smashed her shoulder painfully into the ground. Cursing, Astrid quickly picked herself up.

And there, standing innocently in the opening leading out of the small cave, was Hiccup.

Once again, a thousand, thousand memories came rushing back to Astrid. She looked upon the boy who she had once known, seemingly a life-time ago. She knew then that what happened the night before was not a dream. She had really met him.

And she had nearly killed him.

"Hi-Hiccup. How.. Ho-"

"Your mother showed us the way here. Well, I guess she is my mother too, but you probably know her better than me…"

Her mother. His mother.

It clicked in Astrid's head.

Valka didn't speak of her family often, though she had mentioned she had once married and had a son. A son who was a baby when she had been taken away twenty years ago. And Hiccup had grown up without a mother back on Berk.

Astrid felt incredibly stupid for not having seen it earlier.

"Well.. I guess that makes us siblings. Adopted siblings" Astrid joked weakly. Strangely, the felt no rising of the Valkyrie this time when she saw him. The memories were still there, pushing into her mind, but it wasn't so overwhelming this time.

Hiccup smiled.

"You're exactly as I remember you."

The words, for some reason, made something flutter inside of her, but she steadfastly ignored it.

"Hiccup, I'm sorry about… yesterday…I"

He held up a hand to ward off any further explanation.

"It's not your fault. It was mine. I know this must be sort of overwhelming and all. _I _find it overwhelming. I mean, I've found out that my mother is alive and now you-"

"And your mother gave you the impression that you could just walk in here without warning?" Astrid said coldly.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed.

"Well, I called out, but you didn't answer."

There was a long silence stretching on awkwardly between the two. Then Astrid retrieved her dropped spear and held it up.

"I guess, then that you were the one who brought this back."

"Well ya, it is yours after all."

The silence stretch on awkwardly for a long, long time as the two simply stared at each other, not knowing what to say. What words could describe the hurt they felt, the heartache that they had been forced to bear after being separated, and the even greater ache when they found each other.

Astrid had hidden that heartache for years, building a wall of anger that had become something more, had become a living thing, a dark other self.

But the Valkyrie could block out the pain no longer.

"I missed Berk" Was all Astrid said, and with those words, the flood of pain that had been held back for years and years came flowing through her. But instead of recoiling, she embraced it. She embraced the pain, the fear, the heartache.

To do otherwise was to act like she had never had a home on Berk.

She ran forward and embraced him, shattering her final barrier. She didn't cry, for she was beyond tears at that point. To his credit, he didn't say anything, but just held her, serving as an anchor for her.

It was like old times. But better. For a younger Astrid had never found the courage to associate with the village looser. The one whom everyone looked down on. The one she had secretly admired, if only from a distance.

Then… she said something peculiar. One she didn't expect herself to say.

"You're taller?" she blurted out "Your taller than me?"

"Why, I guess I am" Hiccup responded. His faces then broke into a mischievous grin. "You missed a lot."

Astrid felt her own mouth stretching into a matching grin. "I guess I'll just have to make up for lost time then, won't I"

"I guess so" He replied "And for the record, I missed you too."

And just like that, the tension between the two was gone.

"Why don't I reintroduce you to the others" Hiccup suggested "I'm sure they'll like you once they get to know you."

At this, Astrid hesitated. She still wasn't so sure about seeing the rest of the party just yet, wasn't so sure it wouldn't end disastrously like it did before. But she looked into Hiccup's face, his knowing green eyes, and she knew she could do it.

If nothing else, she would do it for him.

"I would like that" Astrid said quickly, trying to cover up her pause.

He smiled at her, and there was something about it that was very boyish, the he turned away from her and gave a piercing whistle.

Hiccup's jet black night fury, came bounding into the room, with Stormfly close on his heels.

"Astrid, this is Toothless. Toothless, this is Astrid."

* * *

**Aaaaand, there we are. For those of you who think this was resolved too quickly, I will tell you that all is not completely resolved. Not yet anyway.**

**I hate to say this, but it seems like this story is going to take me into the summer holidays before I finish it. I probably won't be able to update as often, as I will be working my butt off and preparing for my first year at university (SO EXCITING!) But one way or another, I WILL finish this story. I will not leave it halfway unfinished. I promise you guys.**

**As always, Have a good one, and I'll see you next update!**


	18. Act 2: Hunter, Trapper, Brother, Killer

**Annnnnndddddd, were back!**

**Sorry to all of you guys who were hoping for some more Hiccstrid this chapter, but were going to be looking in on some other characters. Yup, were going to see what the bad guys are doing. Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Erik Hofferson was not a person who often lost his cool, but right now he was practically shaking with fury.

"So you are telling me" Erik growled "That not only did every dragon we had escaped, but the entire camp was practically destroyed… by no more than half a dozen dragon riders?"

The little messenger was trembling so badly that it seemed like something was going to pop out of joint, but he managed to squeak out

"Y-y-yes si-si-sir…"

Erik clenched his fist, his knuckles crackling and popping under strain. The day had started off rather well, and now had escalated into something disastrous. He had spent the entire day previous out hunting a particularly elusive dragon, one he had ultimately failed to catch, but had not been too concerned. After all, back at his camp, he had already stocked up on a surprisingly large batch of dragons, which would have made him a fortune once sold.

But as he arrived back to his fort after a fruitless search, he discovered that he had not only lost every dragon in the camp, but also that almost every building had been burned to cinders.

The work of dragon riders.

Now he moved among the destroyed camp, taking in the extent of the damage. His men also wandered among the ruins, though they hastily moved out of the way in order to avoid crossing over Erik's path.

After all, Erik cut a rather intimidating figure, even to fellow trappers. He stood several inches over six feet, and his steps had a swift, dangerous quality to them, like a serpent slithering over the ground. He wore suit of black leather, threaded through with plates of dark iron that both provided protection and enhanced his menacing appearance. Belted at his side was a short sword, and strapped to his back was a round shield, painted with an image of a Viking burying an axe into a dragon's skull.

A bit of color off to the side caught Erik's attention. Nestled within the ashes of what had once been the armory, right next to where the dragon cages had been stored, was a bit of blue. Striding bolding into the ashes, Erik knelt down and sifted through the wreckage with a gloved hand.

Inside was a spike, or rather a spine. A nadder spine, blue on one end, yellow on the other.

_This was the Valkyrie's work_, Erik thought.

The Valkyrie. He was getting sick of hearing about the Valkyrie. Time and time again, Erik's men would come running back to him with wild tales about an unstoppable warrior, swooping down from the skies on the back of an ocean blue nadder. Others said the Valkyrie was some sort of immortal being, sent down by the gods themselves to punish them. Others still said the dragon and the warrior where one and the same, and she was in fact a shape-shifter that could change her form at will.

Erik didn't believe there was anything supernatural about this Valkyrie, but the fact was that his men did. And as the tales spread, more and more began to desert his cause out of terror. Trappers from all over the ocean were suddenly terrified.

But Erik was not afraid. He had awaited a chance to meet this supposedly invincible dragon rider for years, but every time he seemed to always be one step behind. The Valkyrie would appear, seemingly out of nowhere, attack, and then vanish without any trace, save for the destruction left in her wake. Obviously in this instance, there was more than a single dragon rider, so the survivors said, but Erik wasn't thinking about that just now.

All Erik could think about was the Valkyrie. And now he intended to end her at the first.

He had to stop her. There was simply no other way around it. This attack on his main base represented something bold, much more bold than she had been in the past. In order to bring her down, he would need to try something else. He would have to lure her, force her to engage in a battle that she absolutely could not escape, much less win.

Erik grinned maliciously.

He knew just the man who could make such a thing happen.

Drago Bludvist.

* * *

Erik had is men maneuver carefully into the gigantic, hollow ice-berg that served as a fortress for Drago's army. Few people who knew about it were allowed to ever leave the cave, for Drago wanted no hint of where his army was to get to the outside world until it was time to strike. As it was, only the trappers that continued to supply Drago with more dragons for his army were allowed in and out.

Trappers like Erik Hofferson.

Erik's ship seemed small indeed compared to the gigantic, monstrous boats that made up Drago's fleet. Whereas Erik's ship was small, light, and made for maneuverability, Drago had ships made only for war, capable of carrying hundreds of weapons, shields, men, and captured dragons.

A number of watch-men called out as Erik passed between the massive boats, but he called back with the appropriate passwords and signals. He took the shortest possible route, weaving his way between through until he reach the largest ship of the fleet.

Drago's flagship.

"Wait here" Erik called out to his crew man as he climbed nimbly up to the flagship. The guards who ringed deck of the massive boat moved hastily out of Erik's way, for they each knew him by sight. He and Drago where no strangers after all.

"Drago!" Erik called to the front of the ship, once he had boarded. Dozens of men surrounded him, but he kept his stance casual, confident. "I would speak to you!"

He appeared, moving with long, swift strides to stand before Erik, towering over the younger trapper. Wrapped in a black cloak of dragon skin, carrying a massive, hooked spear in one meaty fist, was Drago Bludvist.

"Erik" Drago said, his voice grinding and rough "You promised me more dragons, yet I see none." His eyes narrowed dangerously.

Most men would have practically groveled before the menace that was Drago Bludvist, but not Erik. As he never let dragon intimidate him, some of which outweighed him by hundreds upon hundreds of pounds, so he would not let this man intimidate him.

"No Drago" Erik replied, his tone crisp, clear "The dragons I promised you were stolen."

"Explain why I should not have you replaced." Drago growled, his voice low and dangerous. And Erik made sure to keep a calm look on his face. Drago was a difficult man o predict, owned to the fact that he was partially insane. But Erik was confident in his delivery.

"Because I can bring you the person who stole them" Erik said, then paused, letting the suspension hang in the air for a few moments.

"I can bring you the Valkyrie."

There was a collective intake of breath from the crewmen around Drago and Erik, then scattered whispering. Drago stared at Erik for about a minute, his scowling face never changing, never blinking.

Then Drago threw back his head and laughed.

"Ha, and you think you can defeat this invincible warrior?! You think that can do what me and my men cannot?! When we invade the nest, we will crush this Valkyrie like an insect she is. Why I let you go after her!?"

"Because she has a weakness. One I can use against her." Erik replied. "If I can get her in the open, she won't stand a chance"

The only reaction that _that _statement invoked was dead silence, broken only by the swishing of the waves against the hull.

"And what might this secret weakness be" Asked Drago, seeming suddenly intrigued. "How have you discovered it where hundreds of my men could not."

"My reasons are my own." Erik replied "If I tell you, perhaps we should speak less… openly." Erik gestured to the men around him.

"Hmmm. Fine. Come. We'll speak in the hold."

Eric follower Drago down to the cavernous hold of the ship...

* * *

"...And so that is your plan."

"Yes"

"Very well, boy" Drago said "Bring back the Valkyrie's head, and you'll get your payment. But… if you bring her back alive, I will pay you three times as much."

Erik arched an eyebrow.

"What is she to you?"

"That" Drago replied "Is no concern of yours. I will provide you with the men and the traps. Bring her down, and you will get your pay. That is all you need to know."

The tension crackled between the two, almost tangible.

"Very well" Said Erik "I take my leave."

"Boy" Drago growled "If you fail me again, then I will see to it that you do not get off as easily as you did this time."

"Why Drago, you wound me with your doubts."

Drago's eyes narrowed dangerously, a sure sign he believed he was being mocked.

"Get out of my sight" He rumbled.

Erik made a show of slowly sauntering out of the dark, dank hold, exuding confidence, even arrogance, with each step. He was making an effort to show just how little he feared Drago, just how little his threats scared him. It was a dangerous tactic, but one that Erik had perfected in the face of men who were more powerful than him a long time ago.

After all, a show of fear was more likely to invite an attack than a show of confidence. Even if that confidence may not be entirely real.

Erik never looked back as he made his way out of the hold and back to his ship. He had preparations to make. Drago would provide some of the men and the traps Erik needed.

In turn, Erik would bring down the Valkyrie.

* * *

Drago waited a long, long time in the hold after Erik had left. He mulled the conversation over in his mind, chuckling to himself. No matter what the outcome was of Erik's little hunt, Drago would profit from it.

If the boy failed, and got himself killed, which seemed like the most probable outcome, Drago would have rid himself of a rival that could stab him in the back at the earliest opportunity. If Erik killed the Valkyrie, then that would be one less dragon rider to deal with when Drago did finally assault the nest.

But if Erik captured the Valkyrie, and brought her back to him alive… that was the outcome Drago most desired. Though he did not wish to admit it, the Valkyrie had been quite the thorn in his side for years now, much more so than the original dragon rider had ever been. How Drago would love to pay her the Valkyrie back for that, to hurt her just as she had hurt him.

And he knew just how he was going to do so. A way that would not only satisfy his desire for vengeance, but it also was going to be _useful._ That is, if it worked.

After all, Drago already controlled the mightiest dragon in the world, the Bewilderbeast

If he controlled the greatest warrior ever, the Valkyrie , he would be unstoppable.

* * *

**And there we have it. Summer holidays are coming up, and we're all running around trying to get ready for summer holidays and final exams. Turns out I might not be as busy this summer as I thought I would, so I should be able to keep up with my weekly updating just fine. I might even in a few more than usual done. **

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always, have a good one! **


	19. Act 2: The Riders' Journey

**Hello everyone, I'm back. **

**If fresh from re-watching How to Train Your Dragon 2, making it my sixth time watching it since it came out. Anyways, Every time I watch I am amazed by just how awesome it is. I mean, it's one thing to watch it and say it's awesome, but when your watching it, it's jsut something else. **

** Anyways, on with the story.**

* * *

All in all, the company found that day was rather charming. Granted, she wasn't so sure _how _she should be reacting to this group of people she had never met, but she thought she had done alright.

Hiccup guided her out to the place that he and his friends had made a new, makeshift camp inside the sanctuary, a wide plateau that was large enough for both them and their dragons to rest comfortably, as well as soak up a good amount of sun. They were all more or less arrayed in a semi-circle overlooking the vast pool in which the giant bewilderbeast dozed, and each of them seemed at least a little bit wary. The dragons of the sanctuary, in turn, were also watching the strangers nervously, not quite sure just what to make of them yet.

The rest of the group had noted Hiccup's approach, then all of them seemed to tense when they saw Astrid coming on his heels. Though they tried to hide it, Astrid could see the stiffness in their movements, the rigidness of their expressions, and the way they had to fight themselves from flinching practically every time she moved.

They were afraid of her.

Well, all of them except for Hiccup.

He talked with her in a light, conversational tone, never seeming to be uncomfortable around her as the others were. He re-introduced her to everyone in the little group as well as telling her a bit about each of them.

First there was Mira, who had apparently lived in Rome before she had joined in with Hiccup. She had apparently found herself hunted in her home after she took up life with a certain thieves guild. She left before she got caught (there was little love lost between her and her family she left behind, with her father and older brother being drunks and her mother having left a long time ago), stowing herself away on a ship heading for the Archipelago. She got off as soon as she could, and disembarked on a small island called Mrak. From there, she lived comfortably for a time, unnoticed by the locals… Until one day she had actually been caught while stealing food from the chief's own home. But there was no easy escape for her the second time around. The inhabitants of Mrak threw her on a boat, sailed her to a remote island, and dumped her there with no food, water, or supplies.

The island they put her was Changewing Island.

Thirsty, starving, Mira had been in no shape to fight off the Changewings that surrounded her, one by one. Yet, despite their fierce, territorial nature, the color changing dragons seemed to more curious than hostile. After all, one human, a weak and sickly one at that, was hardly a threat to them. One of them actually started to take a shining to her, a hatchling barley old enough to fly on its own. The little Changewing helped Mira find food, fresh water, and otherwise survive on an island that was practically uninhabitable. They became friends, and Mira named the little Changewing Dusk. Thick as thieves, the two of them were (in some cases, quite literally), causing no end of mischief throughout the island, while the other changewings simply looked on. They had come to accept Mira as one of their own.

Eventually, Mira and Dusk had explored, discovered, and uncovered everything there was to be explored, discovered, and uncovered on the little island. And so, with a heartfelt farewell to a family she had never expected to have, Mira flew off on Dusk's back, determined to explore the world with her new friend.

And thus, Mira found her dragon.

Balder's story was even stranger. A quiet, unassuming boy who wished to train in the healing arts, he stumbled upon his dragon quite by accident. The old Thunderdrum who had been roosting right outside the village, having gone completely unnoticed for years, just happened to stumble into Balder one day when he was out gathering herbs. Rather than immediately calling for help or drawing a weapon, the studious Balder decided the dragon was something to be studied. After all, it seemed rather old, docile, and was not attempting to rip Balder's guts out at the time, and so, why miss the opportunity? The old Thunderdrum didn't seem to care for Balder, ignoring him for the most part. That is until Balder started bringing the dragon fish every day. Balder very smoothly incorporated visiting the Thunderdrum into his schedule, and since he usually spent lots of time on his own anyways, no one really questioned the fact that he seemed to spend more time outside of the village than in.

Then one day, the pair simply left.

Balder had learned all there was his teacher in the healing arts could give him, and so he was determined to get out into the world. To the people of his village, Balder's design to leave came as no surprise, as he had no family left that he would leave behind (His mother and father had died from a plague when he was young, which was one of the reasons he decided to become a healer in the first place). The villagers must have wondered exactly how Balder left, as he suddenly vanished one day, with no evidence of any boat or ship.

Of course, Balder's dragon, Tempest, proved to be better transportation than any waterborne vessel.

And so Balder found his dragon.

Then there was Blade.

Blade volunteered nothing about himself, and so Hiccup was forced to explain the other boy's history to Astrid. Apparently, Blade came from a tribe of Vikings where value was measured by strength, toughness, and sheer bravery. Children were taught to hold weapons by the time they could walk, and like Hiccup, Blade was the son of a chief. He had to set an example for his people.

Surprisingly, Blade was considered gentle and pacifistic compared to most of his tribe, even though he was a superb fighter. According to his tribemates , he wasn't bloodthirsty enough, nor did he have the stomach to carry out what was 'necessary' for the good of the tribe. When he came of age, Blade was sent out on a quest, a right passage every boy in their tribe would undergo when they reached the age of sixteen.

The task was to go into the wilds, singlehandedly kill a dragon, and bring back it's head to the chief. And so Blade set out, taking a small boat to a volcanic island, where only one species of dragon lived. The dragons that his tribe feared and respected above all others. The dragons were called Volcanoths.

Yet, the first dragon Blade encountered was not a Volcanoth, but a Boneknapper.

Apparently, the Boneknapper was also hunting Volcanoth dragons, or rather their bones. Unlike most dragons, Volcanoths had bones of glossy black instead of stark white, for reasons no one had been able to discern since they were discovered. The boneknapper had created it's entire armor out of the bones of these dragons, and so had looked like it was covered in a layer of dark obsidian, standing out even among it's normally rare species. As it was, Blade and the boneknapper had been ready to attack each other, but a pack of Volcanaths had interrupted their private fight before it could start.

And so Blade and the boneknapper both fought against a common enemy. When the dust settled, they were both battered, bruised, and to tired to fight anymore, Each had a newfound respect for the other, and in that, they became allies of necessity, which later transformed into friendship.

The Volcanaths beaten back for the moment, but the two of them knew there would be more to come. Blade knew it was not safe for his new dragon to be brought back. Hell, it was unsafe for even _Blade _to go back until he finished his right of passage that had gotten him on the island in the first place. Logically, the thing to do would have been to fly off in the opposite direction, starting over fresh and hoping to never see his birthplace again.

But Blade had other ideas.

He hopped on his new dragon, whom he named Shade, and headed straight back for his home. Once there, he snuck into the village, stole his father's sword- and ancient, ancestral weapon that was to be passed to him one day- and then showed himself and his dragon for all to see.

He declared, to everyone in their village, that their ways were wrong. That killing for its own sake was evil, and that he would partake in it no longer. With that, he and Shade soared upwards into the sky, leaving the place of his birth far behind.

And so Blade found his dragon.

Finally, Hiccup.

The only one Astrid had known, and yet she felt like she knew him even less than she did the others, so much had he changed. Apparently, six years after Astrid had been taken away from her former home by Cloudjumper, Hiccup had managed to shoot down a Night Fury, becoming the only known person to have done so. The attack had ended up crippling the dragon, though not killing it, and so Hiccup was given the chance to finish off the helpless dragon, which would have named him a hero among the people of his village. Instead, he set the Night Fury free, never telling anyone exactly what had happened.

Crippled as it was though, the poor dragon couldn't get very far. Missing a part of its tail, the dragon had gotten trapped inside a sheer-sided cove, unable to fly out, doomed to eventual starvation.

Again, Hiccup changed that. He replace the tail-fin the dragon was missing.. He helped the dragon fly again, and in doing so, they became absolutely inseparable.

Then he Hiccup came first in dragon training, and was given the 'honor' of killing a dragon.

But he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't kill a dragon. Through the techniques and weaknesses he had learned from Toothless, his own dragon, he had managed to subdue anything that was thrown at him during training. But he couldn't make himself kill a dragon. Packing up everything that he needed for a journey, he got on Toothless, flew off of Berk, and never looked back.

And so Hiccup found his dragon. And started something else.

A cause.

As he came across the others, he incorporated them into his group, earning their respect, becoming their undisputed leader. He seemed to have a knack for getting them to follow him, and follow him they did. He had made a place in the group for Blade, Balder, and Mira so far, and was even still looking for others who shared their view.

And then he had found Astrid.

Of course, Hiccup had managed to say all of this while looking exceptionally humble, often downplaying his role in it all. The Mira and Balder often interrupted Hiccup, adding in little bits they thought were important. Blade remained silent, but by the end of the story, he was no longer glaring at Astrid. She also thought she saw him crack a smile at one point, but it might have been her imagination.

That was something, at least.

* * *

All the while Valka watched.

Perched on a ledge overhanding the group, Valka had seen and heard everything without ever letting on she was there. She watched as they spoke. She watched as they smiled. She watched as they laughed.

Laughter.

Valka sighed. She could not remember the last time she had managed to make Astrid laugh. Or even smile. Theirs was a grim business, a harsh life, but there had been joy to balance the sorrow, smiles to banish the tears.

And yet, never had Valka heard such joy in Astrid's laughter, nor such warmth in her smile.

How much has she lost, Valka wondered, that I might have given her, simply by taking her back where she belonged. How much more she might have laughed, might have smiled.

How much, Valka asked to herself, have I failed her?

She didn't even realize she was crying until she tasted the salty tears running down her face.

She left her vantage point then, walking wherever here feet would take her, seemingly for hours. At last, when she finally stopped, she was standing upon the shores of the sanctuary, looking out onto the vast, uncaring ocean.

Grief and sadness transformed into fury. And anger.

Valka looked out over the ocean, the sky, the clouds, the waves.

And screamed.

All of her frustration, all of her grief, every horrible emotion she had been forced to endure over the years was thrown into that scream. Every choice, every single choice she had made seemed only to lead to more pain.

"I HAVE GIVEN EVERYTHING I HAVE TO GIVE!" She shouted "IS IT NEVER ENOUGH!? I HAVE ONLY EVER DONE WHAT I THOUGHT WAS RIGHT, AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN ENOUGH!"

Valka haddock dropped her face into her hands, the only shield she had ever had against a world she felt she did not belong in.

"Never enough… I only bring more pain"

The only ones that heard her cry were the uncaring ocean and remorseless sky.

* * *

**Some people talked about wanting a Valka guilt scene a while back, and so I managed to get it in this chapter for you guys. As much as it may seem as if I dislike Valka, I actually like her character plenty. I definitely feel like people think she is almost a villain in this story for what she has done to Astrid, and that wasn't my intent at the beginning, but I think it's making for a more interesting character. Guess we'll get to see how that plays out. **

** Anyways, Review, favorite, follow, and as always, have a good one!**


	20. Act 2: Things Will Never Be The Same

** So here we are with another early chapter. Closing in on the end of act 2 with this one so hold on to your hats, folks. Act 3 is going to be EPIC!... Maybe. Anyways hope you all enjoy the chapter. **

* * *

Astrid sat down by the small, trickling brook that bisected the Dragon Sanctuary. Fed by the constant melt water that came off the vast iceberg, the stream had never run dry. Grown deeper and shallower at times, perhaps, but never gone dry.

Sometimes prominent, sometimes all but vanished. Never completely gone.

Like a memory.

Astrid cupped her hands in the stream to gather a bit of water, then poured that water into her mouth, cold, pure, and refreshing. She felt the presence of Stromfly at her left side, also lapping at the stream. The other riders were all taking their dragons for a flight around the island, leaving Astrid with some privacy to digest everything she had taken in that morning and afternoon. Other than Stormfly Astrid was alone.

"This changes everything" Astrid said to her dragon. Stormfly looked at her with a quizzical glance, yellow eyes unreadable.

"You should have seen us when we were younger" Astrid continued "Hiccup and me, I mean. I guess I never really acknowledged him most of the time, but I caught him starting at me a few times. I never really had the courage to go and talk to him."

She thought for a moment.

"Guess I was afraid of being seen with the village screw-up."

The last few words came out more bitter and harsh that Astrid intended. Stormfly moved in closer to Astrid, nuzzling her riders side with gentleness that belied her size. Astrid smiled and scratched her dragon's neck, earning a croon of pleasure.

"I guess we never really understand what we got till we lose it."

Though Stomfly gave little outward sign of it, Astrid was sure her dragon understood every word.

"Did you have any family, Stormfly? Any friends before… this?" Astrid gestured vaguely to the sanctuary around them.

There was a strange silence, and then Stormfly let out a sad warble. A lonely, heart-wrenching sound. Astrid almost chocked on the next words, as the realization struck her.

"Are they… are they dead?"

Her dragons silence was the only answer Astrid needed.

Astrid was appalled, mostly with herself. The topic of family was not something that came up between them, as it was something Astrid had forced herself to forget about for a long, long time. In all that time, she had never thought to ask her dragon, her _best friend, _about family. Of course, Stormfly could not answer with words, but she and Astrid could communicate almost as well as any language would allow them, if not better.

And Astrid had only just realize that she and her dragon shared similar pains.

"Oh, Stormfly" Astrid whispered, hugging her dragon tightly. She could all but feel the sadness there, old pain, partially faded but still hurting. And all the while, Astrid had just been too blind to see it.

Too caught up in her own pain.

Too caught up in the Valkyrie.

It was at that moment that Stormfly decided to abruptly break the tension.

Which was to say, the nadder shoved Astrid just hard enough to send her tumbling into the stream behind her.

Astrid had a brief feeling of dread before she dropped into the icy cold water like a stone. The stream was deep enough that she didn't end up hitting any jagged rocks or debris when she fell, but shallow enough that she was n=in no danger of drowning herself. She came up sputtering, spitting out water.

"Stormfly!"

Astrid's dragon let out a warble that sounded distinctly like human laughter. She looked rather pleased with herself, eyes glittering with mischief.

That is, until Astrid retaliated, sending a huge splash of water right into Stormfly's face. The blue dragon tried dodge, but ended up moving too slowly. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the water droplets that clung to her scales stubbornly.

Astrid laughed at the sight, though she had to force her teeth to quit chattering from the numbing cold.

Now it was Stormfly's turn to look indignant, though it was quickly replaced by a look of concern when she saw just how much her rider was starting to shiver. Reaching over, Stormfly gently closed her teeth around the back of Astrid's shirt and pulled her out of the stream, carrying her the way a mother cat would carry it's kitten. Once Astrid was placed back on dry land, Stormfly curled around her, pulling Astrid in closer to herself with her tail.

And there they sat for a long, long while, and Astrid simply lay back relaxed, feeling safe and secure within her dragon's embrace.

* * *

Astrid woke to the realization that she had been asleep, to for which she found herself annoyed. Falling asleep during the night was one thing, but falling asleep in broad daylight was just plain inconvenient. Also, considering the fact that her clothes had practically been dried out by the heat of Stormfly's body, it had been a good while since she had lost consciousness. She opened her eyes.

There, sitting not twenty feet to her right, was Hiccup. Kneeling in the grass, holding what looked like a charcoal pen in one hand with a piece of parchment laid across the ground in front of him. He moved the charcoal across the parchment an almost imperceptible amount, evidently trying to perfect some detail of… whatever it what he was drawing.

Toothless was right behind Hiccup, looking over the boy's shoulder like a particularly strict teacher, aside from the fact that his eyes were wide and curious rather than judgemental.

"Hello" said Astrid.

Astrid was astounded at the reaction that came over Hiccup. Is whole body jerked in surprise as his gaze shot upwards from the paper to meet hers, all the while his hands scrambled to gather up the drawing laid out across the ground.

"Oh, uh… hi-hi Astrid, I was just, um, just here to, uh, tell you that were … cooking up some dinner… and wondering if you wanted to join us."

He was frantically stuffing the parchment into a small bag attached to Toothless's saddle, while the black dragon looked rather amused by it all.

"Hiccup" Astrid said, moving to a standing position, carefully so as not to wake the sleeping Stormfly "What where you drawing."

Hiccup's were flushed scarlet as he turned back to face Astrid, putting himself between her and that apparently oh-so-important drawing.

"Umm" He licked his lips nervously "Nothing.. just a.. a bit of the view. Isn't that right, Toothless?"

The black dragon gave Hiccup a 'seriously?' look, then snorted.

Astrid was not going to be deterred. She moved right up to Hiccup, who seemed determined to stick between her and the saddleback which contained whatever picture he was drawing. Astrid moved left and right, but Hiccup paced her constantly so that she could never get around him.

"Toothless" Hiccup whispered out of the corner of his mouth, so quietly Astrid almost didn't catch it. "A little help here?"

To which Toothless responded by plopping down to the ground and letting out a very- and I mean very- convincing impression of a human snore.

Astrid crossed her arms.

"Come on Hiccup, what's the matter? What's the point of drawing if you never show it to anyone?"

"Honestly, Astrid, it's not what you thi-"

With a quick fake to one side, Astrid managed to dart around Hiccup, shoving her hand inside the back and pulling out the first piece of parchment she touched.

"Astrid don't-"

Too late. Astrid stood looking at that picture, feeling nothing but blank astonishment. She hadn't known what to expect, but she had certainly not expected _this._

She was looking at a picture of herself.

It must have been what she looked like only minutes before, leaning back against Stromfly with the nadder's tail curled around her lovingly. The charcoal pen could only provide so much detail, but Hiccup seemed like he had gotten the most out of it. She could see the fine outline of Stormfly's scales, the steamers of her blond hair, the delicate line of her mouth, curved in a small smile of content exhaustion.

"You drew this?" Astrid asked slowly, even as she felt her own cheeks begin to heat up in embarrassment.

"Y-ya" Hiccup stuttered "I- I kinda came along after my flight with Toothless… and you were asleep… and… and-"

"It's beautiful"

She had blurted the words out before she had a chance to fully register them, but she found herself unable to refute her blunt statement. Not that she was particularly well versed in drawing, but the picture looked so lifelike she almost expected it to start moving.

"Not as beautiful as you are."

Now _that _statement made Astrid's eyes grow wide as dinner plates, as she turned to stare back at Hiccup, who looked as nervous as if he had uttered some blasphemous word and was expecting to be struck dead by lighting at any moment.

Of all the things she thought of herself as, Astrid had never really seen herself as… well, _beautiful. _Oh, of course she knew what beautiful was, but never as something really… physical. She saw her friendship with Stormfly as beautiful. She saw her love she shared with Valka as beautiful. The sense of community within the sanctuary, and how each dragon looked out for each other. _That _was beautiful.

But Astrid never thought any man would call her beautiful. Especially one like Hiccup...

She blinked.

One like Hiccup? Where had _that _come from? Granted he had certainly gotten more handsome over the years. Granted the way he stuttered during there conversation was, in a strange way, adorable. Granted his eyes, a perfect shade of green, reminded her or spring and fresh trees. Granted-

Astrid acted on impulse, before her brain really registered what she was doing. She supposed that if she took the time to think it through, she probably would have realized how crazy it was. Fortunately, she didn't stop to think. Standing up on her tiptoes, she reached up and planted a quick kiss on Hiccup's check.

"Thank you" Astrid said, holding the picture out to him, which he took with trembling hands.

"Well, I think it's about dinner time" Astrid continued "Best we get going."

Then, without another word, Astrid turned around and skipped off-_skipped. _She felt somehow lighter, as if she could simply float off the ground and into the clouds. She tried to ignore the slight fluttering feeling in her stomach as she left a dumb-founded Hiccup behind.

Though that particular feeling was… rather pleasant. Some might say more than pleasant.

* * *

Of course, Balder, Mira and Blade, watching from the concealment of some nearby bushes, saw everything.

"Oh, man" Mira whispered, trying to keep her giggling from breaking out into full-fledged laughter. "I am never going to let him forget this. Did you guys _see _the look on his face. That was priceless."

"Oh come on." Balder replied, though he too was shaking with laughter "It was one little kiss. Not even on the lips. It doesn't mean anything"

Blade was the only one how looked unamused.

"Ya sure" Blade said "For now it doesn't"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mira responded, somewhat indignant. "Does everything have to be all hellfire and brimstone with you? You interpret everything as an end to the world."

Blade snorted

"Bit of an exaggeration, but basically correct. It's what keeps me alive. And as for my point, it looks to me like this _Astrid _girl is manipulating Hiccup."

Mira's eyes narrowed.

"I never knew you were so well versed in the intricacies of love?" She said sarcastically

"Love? They barley met a day ago. You think that is love?"

"From what I heard, they knew each a while back. Also, there is such thing at love at first sight."

In response, Blade chuckled, but it was a mirthless sound.

"This isn't a fairytale, Mira. It isn't a story 'bout a princess being rescued from a high tower by a darning prince. This is _real life. _Wake up!"

Mira opened her mouth to make an angry retort, but Balder beat her to it.

"Mira, I've got to agree with Blade on this one…"

"_What?" _

"Come on, Mira. Love doesn't just _happen. _It takes time and dedication before it can fully-"

"No" Mira interrupted. "I can see your point, but I know what I have seen with my own eyes. Hiccup's in love with Astrid, and I think the fact that you guys are belittling it is insulting. Don't worry about Hiccup. It's not like he's never met a girl before."

Tossing her head to flick her braid of hair over her shoulder, Mira sauntered off, muttering under her breath about "stupid boys."

Leaving Balder and Blade simply starting after her.

"Do you_ really _think that Astrid is trying to manipulate Hiccup." Balder asked in a whisper.

"I honestly don't know" Blade replied "But what I do know is that I don't trust that girl any further than I can kick her. Her and her mother… _Hiccup's _mother. Living alone like this has done some weird things to their heads."

Balder sighed.

"Maybe you got to learn a little bit of trust."

Blade gazed at Balder with eyes that were as hard and cold as ice.

"If I trusted so easily, I wouldn't be alive today."

* * *

Like a large, silent predator, Erik Hofferson guided his ship through the icy archways leading to the Dragon Sanctuary. There was no more doubt whether or not he was on the right course, for he could practically smell it from where he was. Within an hour, maybe even less than that he would be there.

And then he would make the Valkyrie pay.

* * *

**THE HICCSTRID IS REAL! AND THE CLIFFHANGERS! Oh gosh, I don't even think _I _know how this is going to turn out in the end, but I can at least promise you it is going to be epic. Depending on how it all turns out, I might even have to extend this story into an act 4. **

**Anyways, Review, favorite, follow, and as always, have a good one!**

**PS: Brace yourselves everybody. Next chapter is going to be full of action.**


	21. Act 2: Closing In

**Had to start and restart the writing of this chapter a few times before I got it right. Anyways, I know you guys were hoping for a Hofferson vs Hofferson battle this chapter, but were not quite there yet. I promise though, that it will be coming very, _very _soon. Anyways, hope you guys like the chapter!**

* * *

For most men, it would have been an insurmountable task. After all, how did one capture a single dragon rider safely tucked away in a virtual fortress of ice. Add to the fact that the fortress was not guarded by humans, but _dragons, _including the titanic Bewilderbeast, and the whole idea of it seemed like an extreme form of suicide than a plausible task.

So the first thing Erik did when he arrived at the Sanctuary, sneaking in under the shroud of night, was to ask himself a simple question.

How to defeat the Valkyrie in her own home? The answer, he discovered, was just as simple.

Lured her out of her home.

With its army of inhabitants, the Dragon Sanctuary would easily withstand anything Erik and his thirty or so men could throw at it. They would be little more than an annoyance, to be crushed at will the moment they were discovered. No, this was not going to be a battle of brute force.

This was going to be a battle of cunning. Of wit. Of stealth.

Erik, one of the most dangerous fighters in the Archipelago, knew well how to play this game.

* * *

Astrid could not remember the last time she had ever eaten something that tasted so good. Mira had volunteered to make dinner for the night, and Astrid had silently thanked all the gods that were listening that she didn't have to stomach any of Valka's cooking. Of course, Astrid had long ago taught her taste buds to ignore the flavoring Valka's… concoctions, mostly for the sake of her own sanity. Valka herself was never one to brag about her cooking skills, but Astrid didn't want to risk hurting her feelings.

Still, she wondered how to indicate that the particular stew she had just eaten was infinitely better than any meal she had ever eaten in the sanctuary without appearing extremely rude. Finally, Astrid just decided that not saying anything at all was probably the safest option.

Now they all lounged lazily around the dying campfire, the six riders and their dragons, all of them content to share, at least for now, a moment of silence.

Across the fire, Astrid watched Valka and Hiccup sit together, the older dragon rider stroking her son's hair as he leaned his head against her shoulder, his eyes half closed. The pair looked so… content. Mother and son, as the world should be.

As it should be.

Astrid and Hiccup hadn't really talked since she had kissed him, Astrid caught him more than once stealing glances at her during dinner. She, in turn, felt her gaze drawn inexplicably drawn to him when it seemed like he wasn't looking .

Astrid felt redness begin to creep into her cheeks at the very thought of it. She hadn't meant to kiss him, at least not at first, but she can't say that she felt regret at the results. Even hours now, hours after, her stomach felt a little fluttery, her lips felt just a bit to warm, and her eyes kept shifting back to where he lay, hoping to catch him staring back at her with those beautiful green ey-

She felt her cheeks heat up until she thought they could boil water.

"I'm gonna go for a walk" Astrid said abruptly, standing up and stretching. A good walk might refresh her and help her get Hiccup out of her mind.

Mira and Balder turned their heads, but didn't acknowledge Astrid in any other way. As she turned to leave, Valka's voice reached out form behind her.

"Don't be staying out long."

Astrid sighed, then turned back to her adopted mother, giving the older woman a look. In response, Valka smiled.

"If I didn't say anything, you'd probably wander until daybreak. Besides, I'm a mother, and it my god given _right _to worry about you."

Astrid sighed.

"It's fine, Auntie. I'll be back in a bit." She paused long enough to give her Stormfly a scratch as she passed her by earning a little chirp of pleasure from of drowsy dragon.

In a bit.

For a teenager or young adult, there was not more obscure way to tell time. A bit could be anything from a a few minutes to a few hours (or even a few days, for some people). Nothing was more exasperating to a worrying parent that their children would be back 'in a bit'. Granted, there was no real danger here in that Astrid couldn't handle herself, and granted, Astrid wasn't exactly a child anymore, but Valka was annoyed all the same.

Still, Valka didn't oppose her as Astrid walked off, watching the girl as she faded from view, moving further and further away from the firelight.

Out in the cold, chill air, away from the press of bodies and the fire, Astrid was able to think. The events of the past couple of days had been a bit overwhelming, to say the least, and she wanted some time to be alone and analyze those events in a more… controlled manner. As well as the changes they meant.

But, come to think of it, there were still to many unknowns for her to come to any conclusions. The other riders had come to the sanctuary, but had they come to stay? Would they, too, join in the private war of trapper against rider, scouring the Archipelago in search of preying ships? Or if not, would Astrid go with _them _when they moved on? Astrid knew Valka would probably try to convince the other riders to stay, especially Hiccup, but they hardly seemed like they were… well, the vigilante type. Like Valka was.

Like Astrid was.

Yet…

Could she or Valka go back to the life they had been living? After meeting her son again that she had barely gotten to know before, Valka was certainly changed. There was more emotion in her when she talked, almost imperceptible, but there it was. Her laughter was stronger, her was smile was warmer, and she moved with an extra spring in her step.

In fact, she looked like a younger woman, almost.

Could she bear to leave her child again? Would she give up her precious dragon sanctuary, which she had watched over for two decades, just to follow her son? Or would he, knowing that, stay here, not wanting to be parted from his mother again, though his heart yearned for freedom?

Would he make that sacrifice for her?

Again it was to many unknowns.

_The answer will come when they are ready_, a small voice in Astrid's head whispered. _Until then, worrying will not change them._

The answers would come in time. There were times that were simply for waiting for that answer to reveal themselves.

It was not her design to ma-.

Astrid was so lost in thought that she almost missed it.

A sound like a faint footstep crunching through the grass just barely reached her ears.

She never precisely remembered picking up her spear when she had left the fireplace, but she was glad that her subconscious had remembered the meaning of caution. Dropping into a low crouch, she turned to face the direction in which the sound had come from. Maybe it had been one of the many nocturnal dragons that prowled around only after the sun went down. One particularly mischievous Speed Stinger liked to cause no end of trouble, sneaking around and disturbing the sleep of other dragons.

It might have been a dragon. But years of experience told Astrid otherwise.

She crept over in the direction where she heard the sound, smooth as a serpent gliding across the ground. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but that meant nothing in the almost pitch black sanctuary night, where the meager even the meager light of the moon was distorted and defused in making its way through the ice.

And so Astrid closed her eyes, taking in what she could only with what she could hear, smell and feel. To most people, it would have been impossible to make out anything other than the constant, rhythmic breathing of hundreds of sleeping dragons, but Astrid was so attuned to her surroundings that she had no trouble sorting out the various information her senses brought her.

There! There it was, lightly closer and to her right. The sound of a footstep. The footstep of someone who was trying to move quietly, but failing to evade Astrid's ears.

She opened her eyes and once more looked in that direction, noting that she had actually come far enough from fire to be right near the wall of the sanctuary, the place most covered in shadow. There could literally be someone standing only five feet from Astrid, and she wouldn't see them. Though, of course, they would be similarly blinded from her movements.

Then there was a flat, metallic _twang _and an arrow came shooting out of the darkness, launching straight towards Astrid.

Only Astrid's uncanny reflexes prevented her spouting a hole in her lung where the arrow would have hit. As soon as she heard it fire, she down to the side, such that the arrow only nicked her before burying itself in folds of her cloak.

Even as she came out of a quick roll, she legs snapped straight like they were loaded with spring coils, propelling her in the direction of a small bush cluster nestled right wall.

Two men, or rather shadowy shapes that looked like men, rose to meet her.

They almost lasted ten seconds

Astrid snapped her spear point at the right one, which turned out to be no more than a feint. While the first man tried to block an attack that wasn't coming, the butt of Astrid's spear swept neatly around the second man's guard and smashed into his temple.

The man dropped like a rock, unconscious.

Astrid skitter backwards to avoid the scything backhand the other man launch, which came nowhere close to hitting. She moved back just out of striking distance, then proceeded to brandish her spear towards him.

"Surrender" she said simply.

He didn't surrender. He charged.

The second one went down easier than the first.

But it was almost too easy. Astrid was sure that it couldn't possibly be only these two men. If they were here, then there were probably others. Turning back in the direction of the distant campfire, she ran to warn the others of the threat.

But what Astrid didn't know is that there were no others. That the men she knocked unconscious and planned to question were _supposed _to be captured.

And that throughout the encounter, she had been watched.

* * *

Perfect.

It was all going perfectly

Erik watched as the Valkyrie discovered the two men he had sent. He watched as she dispatched them so very easily. Both of them would live, though, with nothing more than a bruise and a headache to show for their encounter.

Perfect.

Even now, the Valkyrie running back to find the other riders, to tell them about the two men she had found, and to search the sanctuary for any more. When they found none, they would interrogate the two men they captured, and those men would tell the riders who sent them, and exactly where their boss was hiding.

And so the Valkyrie would walk right into Erik's trap.

So simple. So clever. The perfect trap.

He knew the Valkyrie. She would not miss the chance to strike with the information the two captured men would provide. For her, it would be an opportunity, one not to be missed.

Because the Valkyrie, he knew, was one who would exploit a weakness.

And so Erik was going to turn that against her.

* * *

** Believe me when I say the suspense is killing me too. I promise though that there will be an end to it very soon. Just hold out a little bit longer. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading. Be sure to review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one!**

**PS: Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. (I know, it was a few days ago, but oh well, better late than never)**


	22. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NEXT STORY!

**Attention one and all! This is a very important announcement for the future of this story! If you care about this story even just slightly (Which you probably do, if you are reading this) Then you WILL want to know what I am about to say!**

**Alrighty. The Act 2 of Valka's Apprentice is al finished, and I will be moving into Act 3 in the week after it is over. But on top of that, I am also starting out the planning for my next story, Riders of the Archipelago.**

**Here's the deal. I have seen plenty of stories that are based on the riders of Berk tv series, and I want to do something similar. Similar, but not the same. What I plan to do (I won't give away too much, because this is supposed to be a sequel to VA) is to make a next generation riders of berk with an entirely new set of dragon riders. New stories, new riders, and of course, new dragons. Like the TV series, it will be filled with mini stories, each about 1 or 2 chapters long, all loosely connected together. **

**The story I'm thinking of will be a sequel to this one, though, like the tv series, more light-hearted and maybe even a bit silly at times. I already have the idea for the main character set, but I need more characters put into this new gang of dragon riders.**

**Which brings me to you guys. **

**If you have an OC that you want to be part of this next generation riders of berk, then send it to me in a Private Message. Depending on how many OC's I get, I may have to add in a few of my own (if there are too few) or pick and choose which ones I will use (if there are too many). **

**I am really excited to write something like this, but I need your guys' help to pull it off. Like the tv series, there will be certain chapters or stories dedicated to specific characters, so every OC that gets in will have a chance to shine. **

**So if you want a chance to be part of something that is going to be awesome, entertaining and maybe even a little bit crazy, send me in an OC via Private Messaging. **

**Here is what I need from each entry. Be creative in describing them, and spare no detail.**

**.**

* * *

OC Name: Be creative. After all, they _are_ Vikings.

Gender: I think this is pretty self explanatory. Male or female.

Age: Anywhere between 15 and 18. If you want the rider to be older or younger, give me a good reason for it.

Appearance: Is your character skinny, fat, short, tall? What is their hair color, and how is it styled? And what is their eye color? Are they muscular, or not? Are they slender or bulky? Any missing limbs, or maybe a missing eye or ear?

Outfit: What does your characters outfit look like? Is it flashy, or is it something that blends in with a crowd? Is it a mix-and-match of colors, or all one color?

Personality: What kind of personality does your character have? Are they sarcastic, shy, bullying, outgoing, forceful, or even crazy? This is what makes characters really stand out, so think outside the box.

Flaw: No one is perfect, though we would like to think otherwise. Does your character have a short temper? Are they a scaredy-cat? Or are they just plain stupid (I know, people don't like to think of their characters as dumb, but it makes for great writing. Look how well Ruffnut and Tuffnut turned out in the TV series).

Weapon: What kind of weapon does your character use? Or do they use any at all?

Skills: What is your OC good at? What are they bad at? What do they like to do, and what don't they like to do?

Dragon: Your characters dragon.

_ \- Dragon Name: _Please do not use anything like 'Scalding-Painful-Death-The-Dragon'

_ \- Dragon Species:_ There are some dragon species that you cannot use for this. They are: Night Fury, Skrill, Boneknapper, Red Death, Bewilderbeast, Screaming Death, Typhoomerang, or Firewom queen. Besides these, you can use pick any dragon from the TV series, Movies, or Rise of Berk game.

\- If you wish to make up a new species of dragon for your character to ride, make sure that you describe it in very precise detail, including appearance, Classification, Breath weapon, any special traits and abilities it may have, behavior, typical diet, and natural habitat.

_ \- Color and appearance: _As you know, dragons come in a variety of colors, and so be creative in describing how your OCs dragon looks.

_ \- Personality: _What is your dragon's personality? Is it similar to that of their rider? Or is it the exact opposite, balancing out the rider?

_ \- Relationship with rider:_ What kind of relationship does your dragon have with your OC? Is it all love and hugs, like Meatlug and Fishlegs? Or is it more of a love/hate, like Snotlout and Hookfang? Is it something in-between, or something outside of that all together?

* * *

.

**And that is what I need. In case you were wondering, I purposely left out history because I don't want it just yet. If your character is chosen, we work together to make up a backstory that fits in with the rest of the story. If you come up with anything else that I should ask for, put it in. The more detailed, the better. **

**And there you have it folks. That is what I need. I will be available to take OCs anytime between now and when the next story starts. I will announce the OCs that will be used soon after.**

**Remember, middle of the road characters are less interesting than dynamic ones. There is no such thing as a character concept to crazy for this story, so don't be afraid to send an OC in. Be creative, think outside the box, and most importantly, have fun with it. And together, we can make something that is going to be truly awesome. The only OCs I won't consider are the ones that never get sent in.**

**Thank you guys for reading. As always, have a good one**


	23. Act 2: Love Everlasting, Hatred Unending

**Wow, got so many OC requests just a few days after I sent out the announcement! And to think I was almost worried I wouldn't get enough. **

**Well, the whole OC thing has become much more interesting. Because I won't be able to use every single OC sent in, and so some OCs are going to be left out :( **

** Still, keep sending them in if you guys have any good ideas. I'll be basing the choice of which OCs I use on creativity, depth, and also to create a group that is balanced in its variety. I can't promise that you OC will be the one to get in, but I can promise that I will consider each and every one that is. **

** Ok,with all that out of the way, let us get on with the story. **

* * *

The weather was completely at odds with the mood the dragon riders found themselves in that grim morning. The sun shone down with usual cheer, bathing the nest in it's usual rainbow of flashing colors. Here and there, dragons began to stir from their slumber, stretching and yawning as they got up to go about their daily duties.

The riders, on the other hand, had gotten little sleep.

After Astrid had come back with news of the two men that had attacked her the night before, the group had spent hours scouring every inch of the vast nest, looking for any others who might be hidden… well, anywhere. Yet their search was ultimately fruitless. Outside on the beach, they found tracks, and traces of what must have been a fair sized ship, but it was long gone by the time they got there. Frustrated and tired, the six riders kept the men they _had _caught under heavy watch until morning.

Then the questioning began.

How did you get here? Why were you here? Who sent you? Where is the rest of your party? Who told you how to find the sanctuary?

These and many others were throw at the two men, reinforced with threats of pain and torture should they refuse to answer. Of course, none of the group, not even Blade, had the stomach to torture the men for answers, if it really came to that, but they didn't know that.

And they spilled all of their secrets.

Apparently, the men were trappers, sent their party to scout out the sanctuary and report back findings from the inside. Their ship captain predicted that they would need several days to get anything useful, so he had moved his ship far, far away in order to avoid being seen or caught.

As to who they had worked for…

They claimed they had been sent by Drago Bludvist.

For those who had heard the infamous madman before-Astrid, Valka, and Blade- it was an ominous tiding indeed. Of each of them, only Valka had met the man face-to-face before, and she claimed that she was supremely lucky to have survived the experience.

Drago Bludvist.

The very name sent a shiver down Astrid's spine at the mention of it. Between the stories Valka had told her results and the destruction he had caused that she had seen, Astrid knew Drago was a man to be feared. Not necessarily because of his armies. Or his dragons. Or his tactical brilliance.

No, Astrid feared him for his ruthlessness. His complete lack of conscience. She had seen smoldering ruin of what had once been proud villages, burned to a smoking husk in the name of Drago Bludvist. There were few bodies left in the destruction, for few were ever killed. After all, why kill when you can take slaves?

Children or elder. Man or woman. It made no difference. Drago could turn any human, or dragon, into a slave.

And these men worked for him.

That in and of itself was a practical death sentence, they were not killed, partially out of mercy, and secondly because they could be useful.

Evidently, Drago had somehow found out the location of the nest, to have sent these two men. Therefore, it was safe to assume that the nest was no longer as safe as it was. Potentially migrating to a new island and building a different nest would be a slow process, but it could be done.

But now, through the information the trapper pair had given them, they knew the location of Drago's hideout.

If the information was correct, Astrid suggested, they could strike a crippling blow against Drago. The fact that he sent these two scouts made it clear of his intentions to attack the dragon's nest, but if the riders could attack first, they could do serious damage. Serious enough to force him to call off his attack, or serious enough to give them enough time to evacuate.

It was risky. It was bold. It could go wrong in any number of ways, many of which could lead to death or capture.

But on the other hand, there was not going to be another chance like this. As soon as Drago realized two of his men had been captured, he would take measures to tighten his own defenses and prevent any kind of stealth attack.

In the end, everyone had agreed one going through with the attack.

Everyone… expect Hiccup.

* * *

"I just… something feels off about it, you know? I feel like it is all just too easy."

Astrid sighed. The pair of them were alone, with all the other riders having gone off to make preparations, and they had been arguing for a long, long while now.

"Hiccup, I know you aren't the bloodthirsty type, but there is not going to be another chance like this. If Drago already knows where the nest is, then we _have _to take this chance. We have to slow him long enough to get every dragon off the island, or at least long enough to fortify-"

"I know, I know" Hiccup interrupted "we discussed this all before. But don't you ever get the feeling like… like something bad is going to happen? Even when there is no real reason for it, something just feels… off?"

"No. And personally, I think you worry too much." Flicking her braid over her shoulder, Astrid turned to walk away.

His hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Astrid, I just don't think we should go charging into this. I know that time speed is essential but-"

"But what?" Astrid interrupted, wheeling back around to face him. She was beginning to grow annoyed and angry with his negativity. "I'm going, no matter what you say. If you're too afraid to come, then by all means, stay behind!"

"Yes, maybe I am afraid, I'm not afraid for myself, I'm afraid for you."

Silence.

Dead silence.

Astrid felt her anger melt away at the wave of genuine concern.

"Hiccup, I've never been bested in a fight yet. I've done things more dangerous than this befo-"

"You know that's not what I meant, Astrid. I know you can fight as well as anyone I've ever met. But… can you fight off the other side of yourself?"

Astrid was startled, amazed that this boy seemed to have simply pulled the thoughts right out of her own mind. Indeed, for the first time since they had met, days ago, Astrid wondered if her darker side would reveal itself.

The Valkyire.

She could feel it. Lurking below the surface, patient, waiting, but still thirsty for battle, for blood, for… justice? No, not justice. But vengeance. Vengeance against the dark world in which she had been born into, and cruelty which it perpetrated.

Apparently, Astrid's turmoil must have shown on her face, for Hiccup's eyes filled with a sudden understanding.

"There… there's a part of you that you cannot control, isn't there? Like on the night we found each other…"

"Yes" Astrid said "I…I don't really know when it came to be. But everyday, I learned more and more about the worst parts of our world. Auntie Valka taught me. I think… I think I became angry with the world, angry at every act of cruelty, savagery, and barbarism I saw. And then my anger became something more. It became the Valkyrie"

"The Valkyrie?" Hiccup replied, confusion in his voice "Isn't that… like your title."

"It's more than that" Astrid said "It's the name I have for my other side."

There was a silence between them briefly, and when Hiccup spoke again, his voice was barley above a whisper.

"Does my mom know about this?"

Astrid nodded.

"Yes, I thinks so, but she doesn't say anything. I think she feels like she is responsible for creating it. And so she feels guilt."

"And what do you think?" Hiccup asked. "Did she?"

Astrid took a deep breath.

"I don't know. It might have been her teachings, or it might have been the life in which I have been forced to live."

"Or it might have been a shield" Hiccup suggested "A shield that was created to block out your pain. And the pain around you"

Once again, Astrid was astounded at this boy, this boy who was able to read her like an open book. Even as she opened her mouth to deny it, the words died in her throat before they were born. Because, any sort of denial would have been a lie.

Hiccup took a step closer, and Astrid became acutely aware of just how small a space separated them. He stood several inches taller than her, but their faces were suddenly only inches apart.

"I don't know the Valkyrie" Hiccup said quietly "But I do know Astrid Hofferson. And she doesn't need to hide from her pain."

"I don't think you know me as well as you think" Astrid replied " I have changed, since were kids. So have you."

"Maybe a bit" Hiccup said "But underneath all _this" _He gestured vaguely at her. "You're still the same. You will always the brave one. The confident one. The who always looked at me like I was a _person_, even if you never came to speak to me."

"And that is the Astrid I fell in love with"

Then he kissed her.

It was so very unexpected that Astrid nearly pulled away, but the that thought lasted only for the space of a heartbeat or two. Hesitance and fear dissolved under the wave of pure pleasure and joy that accompanied the kiss. It seemed almost to produce a searing heat, yet it was also unspeakably soothing. Under that heat, reason gave way to sudden, inexplicable desire, and Astrid felt herself kissing Hiccup back it almost ferocious intensity.

And then she stopped trying to identify the rush of emotions and just… well, felt them.

The kiss lasted for a good half a minute before they broke apart, each of them gasping for breath. During that time, Hiccup had apparently wrapped his arms around her waist, while her own arms had gone around the back of his neck.

"I…" Astrid gasped.

Hiccup just smiled.

"If we're going to be invading the hideout of the most dangerous man alive today, then I didn't want to leave that unfinished."

Astrid tried to find a response to that, but her normally quick mind seemed to be all muddled, and her tongue seemed to have turned to lead. It took a heartbeat or five for Astrid to formulate a retort.

"So… you will come with us?"

"Of course. I don't think there is any way I can stop you, and the rest of the gang would be lost without me."

"Not as much as you think" Came a voice behind Astrid.

At the sound of that, Astrid and Hiccup both jumped, frantically trying to untangle themselves from each other. But by then, it was already to late.

Mira, who had been spying on the pair for a good while now, just chuckled.

"We're all ready to go" Mira said blithely "If you guys are done your make out session, that is."

* * *

The pair of trappers gave then directions that led them directly into the camp.

From the outside, the place was virtually invisible, no more than a crevice within a titanic iceberg far, far north of the sanctuary. Once within, what one would have assumed was a crack was actually the entrance to a gigantic cavern. Of course, that being the main entrance, the riders took a different route.

According to the men they questioned, a far more secret route.

There was only space for the to walk two abreast, so they had to leave the dragons outside perched in the edge of the iceberg near the entrance to the long tunnel they were currently navigating. The captured trappers were being led at sword point by Mira and Balder, with Valka walking just in ahead of them. Astrid and Hiccup led the group, while Blade brought up the rear, serving as a silent sentinel.

So far, things were going splendidly.

"How much further down this tunnel" Mira asked quietly, though her voice bounded and rebounded across the icy walls. "this place gives me the creeps"

"Heh" Blade snorted "A thief who doesn't like tight spaces. That's a first."

"I am _not a thief" _Mira retorted "I compensate any one I take from, and-"

"Would you be quiet" Hiccup hissed "This is not the time to argue. Olaf, how far are we"

Olaf, the smaller, and smarter, of the two trappers grinned.

"Not too far, good sir, not to far at all. We will be there soon. "

Something about the way he said it made Astrid uneasy, but now that they had come this far, there was little point in going back now.

It was only a few minutes before they emerged.

The long, winding tunnel opened up into a vast, expansive cavern that dwarfed even the Dragon Nest into insignificance. Stalactites the size of entire ships hung down menacingly from the ceiling, blocked out all possible sunlight from reaching the inside of the place. Right outside the tunnel was a large plateau , bordered by a sheer cliff that ran all the way down to the floor of the cavern.

Or rather, the shore of the cavern, for the entirety of it was filled with water.

And filling that water were dozens of ships.

Each ship was a dark, foreboding mix of brown and black, giving the illusion that the entire fleet was simply one large, connected mass. The biggest ship, situated in the center of the fleet, was more like a fortress than a waterborne vessel.

And in the water tight by that ship, bubble frothed upwards to the surface in a small circle, the only bit of water that did not seem to have a ship sitting over it.

She and Hiccup stood in the entryway for a second, taking in the sight of the vast hideout. Neither of them had the faintest idea of where they could even _begin_ to look for a week point. The place was simply to large, the _army _was simply too large, for them even to make any sizable dent in it with their tiny group. There was simpl-

There was a rumble from above them, and the cave mouth shuddered and cracked. Then collapsed

There was no time to react. The closer route to get out of the way of suddenly falling ceiling was out onto the plateau, but to move that way was to cut themselves off from the group. Only Astrid and Hiccup were in the area of the collapse.

Someone was trying to block the mouth of the tunnel, trapping anyone already passed the threshold. Astrid had a choice to help herself, or help Hiccup.

She choose to help Hiccup.

She shoved him back, out of the way of the falling rocks, stumbling back towards the other riders. She didn't get a chance to see if he made it, for she was already using the force of her own push to throw herself in the opposite direction.

And cutting off her only escape.

She landed hard, though it could have been worse, considering the alternative was being crushed to death by an avalanche of stone and ice. Even as the thunder of tumble rocks faded away, she heard the sound of booted feet all around. Men in wolf-skin cloaks were forming a semicircle around her, forcing her back to the pile of rubble where the tunnel entrance had once been.

She was completely surrounded, and cut off from the rest of the group.

Then a voice reached Astrid's ears. A voice she did not remember at first, but then recalled with growing horror. A voice that was sharp with anger, low with hate, and tinted with madness.

"You walked right into this one, Valkyrie. Or would you prefer if I called you little sister"

Astrid's heart nearly stopped.

* * *

**GASP! He knows! Erik KNOWS!**

**...**

**Nothing more to be said. Last chapter of act 2 is going to be up next. Hang tight. **


	24. Act 2 Finale: Are We Family?

**Long chapter, this one. I might have bitten off more than I should have been able to chew with this particular chapter, but I think it turned out alright. Also, last chapter before the third and final act starts, to get ready folks. **

** As my brother would say, its going to be a wild, wild ride.**

* * *

Erik. It _was _Erik. If Astrid hadn't been reliving many memories from the past recently, she might have not even recognized her own older brother. Even now, she might not have recognized him if not for the fact that he had called her a title she had not heard in a long time.

Little sister.

He stood there, a single trapper within the circle of his fellow trappers, dressed in dark leather armor that gave him a almost two dimensional appearance, as if he were a shadow come to life. He was even taller than she remembered him being, standing closer to seven feet that six, his arms and legs laden with thick muscle. In one hand, he clutched a curving sword, and in the other he held a rounded shield.

He smiled coldly at her, a smile that was empty of true meaning.

"I have waited a long time for this, Astrid. A long time indeed."

Astrid clutched her spear tightly to her.

"Erik… what happened to you? What happen-"

He laughed.

"Happened? Nothing happened. It is you that changed, Astrid. You were the one who…" for an instant, a brief flicker of pain crossed over his features, almost like the pain of a child rejected by a parent. Then it hardened once again.

"You turned against us. Against your own kind. You choose to side with _them._"

The last word was spat out at her venomously.

"But" Astrid stuttered out weakly "how… how did you… kn-know?"

She didn't have to specify. They both understood what she was talking about.

Again, Erik laughed.

"Oh, it was really quite simple. You see, the first trapper I ever met was a man named Eret the Fifth. A man I believe you have met."

Astrid did remember.

"Eret is dead" Astrid said "Only his son, the one who calls himself Eret-son-of-Eret, is still alive."

"So you thought" Erik replied "But he actually did survive. Turned up with one of our fishing boats, and he told us all about his little encounter with the dragon rider. But he didn't tell most people about the little girl he met there."

"A girl around the age of nine, with blond hair and blue eyes."

"At first" Erik continued "Before I heard that, it was about revenge. Only a few years later, after Eret gave me the _whole _story, did it become different."

Once again, the flash of almost childlike pain crossed Erik's features.

"I wanted to save you. I hoped that you were… controlled, somehow. Not thinking clearly. That I might one day find you and bring you back."

Erik's face hardened once again

"I was weak then" he spat "to blind to see the truth."

"The truth?" Astrid said, finally gather her wits back enough to make a reply. "Erik, I-"

"The truth was shown to me by a visonary" Erik went on, continuing as is she had said nothing at all "the truth that was you betrayed your people. I was a fool to think that you ever loved me. That you ever care for anyone at all."

"Erik, you know that is wrong. You were my brother, and I loved you more than anything. I stayed away because I thought it would be safer our family, and I am sorry for the pain I caused you. But how could that have changed you into…into… _this?_"

But Astrid's words, coming straight from her heart, fell on deaf ears.

"I need not justify myself to a filthy, traitorous _dragon rider_ like you."

And with that, Erik charged.

The attack came so abruptly that Astrid barely had time to get her spear up to block. The second came equally a fast, forcing Astrid to dive under if to stop Erik from taking her head clean off.

His speed was almost unbelievable. Even as she came out of the roll, he was right there on top of her, raining strike after strike down on her, and only her steady retreat, first one way, then the other, allowed Astrid to keep ahead of him.

In his reckless offensive, Erik left many holes in his defense, holes that Astrid could have easily exploited to serious damage to him, should she have desired. Again and again, she saw openings she didn't take them.

She didn't want to hurt her own brother.

She didn't know how long she could keep up the dodging game, and she had no idea just how long she would need to. She figured that she had to hold out until Erik grew tired, but even then, that offered no real solution. Even if she could force him to concede, she was still surrounded and hemed in my more than a few dozen men. Not to mention the fact that she was in Drago's camp. The only real option, then, was to look for a way to escape. So far, that seemd to be impossible.

And all the while, another voice wormed it's way into Astrid's thoughts. A venomous voice, one that kept repeating a specific phrase over and over and over.

_He is one of _them_. He deserves what they all deserve. _

It was the voice of the Valkyrie.

She argued against that inner voice, even as she fended off her brother, She tried to deny it, tried to fight back that growing, churning not of pure, instinctual fury growing stronger inside her. She told herself again and again that she could let the Valkyrie take control. The Valkyrie would kill her brother, and even in his present state, Astrid didn't want that.

She forced the words Hiccup had said .to her earlier that day to play over and over in her head.

…_I do know Astrid Hofferson. And she doesn't need to hide from her pain…_

…_that is the Astrid I fell in love with…_

Those words were a poison to the Valkyrie, for the Valkyrie did not, could not, know love. Even as she continued to dodge and duck and parry, she forced back her other side, step by step, until the Valkyrie became no more than a part of the background. Still there, but its significance was forgotten.

It was precisely at that moment that Erik landed his first strike.

She had just leapt over one slash, then ducked the backhand that followed, when Erik's knee suddenly came up with wicked swiftness to smash into her nose. As she was already ducking, there was not chance for her to avoid it, and stars exploded in her vision as she tumbled backwards. Even as she retreated, there was a sudden, hot flash of pain across her arm as Erik lashed out again, drawing a long, shallow line of scarlet on the back of her right hand.

And forcing her to drop her spear in the process.

She scrambled back to her feet immediately, clutching her injured hand. She expected Erik to press the attack immediately, having gained an almost overwhelming advantage now that she lost her weapon. Instead, he simply laughed, placing one booted foot in the spear that lay almost submerged in the snow.

"Really Astrid, I was expecting a better fight then this. Once I am done with you, I might still have time to go kill your pathetic friends before I take you back to Drago."

* * *

On the other side of the rock wall caused by the collapse, Valka and Hiccup pounded futilely against the barrier, calling out for Astrid again and again. Both of their hands were scratched and bleeding, their voices raw from shouting, but they didn't let up.

Behind that barrier, Astrid needed their help.

When the collapse had happened, the two trappers they had taken prisoner took advantage of the chaos caused by the miniature avalanche. Each of them reached into a hidden pocket before anyone could react, drawing out vials of some strange black liquid, which they both immediately drank. Moments later, they both fell down dead.

They killed themselves before they could give away any other information. Which had been the point, from the beginning.

And now, their plan had come to horrible fruition.

"Hiccup!" Mira was frantically shouting at her friend, as she had been for the past several minutes since the collapse.

"Hiccup, we have to go. If they know we are here, then they might get to our dragons! We have to GO!"

"Then you go!" Hiccup yelled back "But I am not abandoning Astrid!"

"If you stay here" Blade said, his voice calm sounding in a sharp contrast to Hiccup's angry retort "then you won't be helping her."

Hiccup didn't even here him. Astrid had pushed him out of the way to save him from being caught on the other side of the barrier which she herself had not been able to avoid. And now, when she needed him most, he wasn't there. So very close, yet they might have been a whole world away for all the difference he was making.

He turned back to the rock barrier, determined to get through it, but this time, Valka blocked his way.

"Hiccup, Blade is right. We aren't helping here. If we get our dragons, then we might be able to get to Astrid."

He didn't want to go back the way they came, away from Astrid. He didn't want to go back when they were so very close. But the logical part of his brain forced him to stop and think through it logically.

The dragons would certainly have a much better chance of getting Astrid out than the riders alone. And out of all the dragons in the world, the one who could help Astrid the best would be Toothless.

"Alright" Hiccup said "Let's get our dragons, and find another way in…"

* * *

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

The words echoed over and over in her mind. Her brother-no, not her brother, but that _monster_\- was threatening to kill Astrid's friends. Stormfly, Valka, Mira…. _Hiccup._

Suddenly, Astrid saw no compelling reason to deny the Valkyrie.

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

All her senses seamed to suddenly sharpen, bringing every detail into razor-sharp focus

_...kill your pathetic friends…_

Time almost seemed to stretch and slow. Astrid looked up into Erik's face, letting his cruel smirk fuel her anger even more.

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

Her blue and scarlet armor became more than a set of armor. It was more like a second skin, no more a hindrance than if it were such

…_kill your pathetic friends…_

No more was she Astrid Hofferson. She was the Valkyrie, more so than she had ever been. Now Erik was not her brother, but just one more opponent, one more challenger, destined to discover that the Valkyrie could not be defeated.

Erik was skilled. Very, very skilled. Coming from a family of warriors, he had learned to lift a weapon almost by the time he could walk. Furthermore, he was in the prime of his youth, right at the point in his life where experience and age met sheer strength and energy, a time in their life when Vikings were the most dangerous. Not to mention he had trained years for this very battle.

Erik was strong, fast and skilled.

The Valkyrie had defeated many skilled opponents.

The Valkyrie had defeated many strong opponents.

And no amount of skill or experience could defeat the raw instinctual knowledge that the Valkyrie possessed when it came to battle.

In short, the Valkyrie believe- no, the Valkyrie _knew- _that the fight was already over.

She charged.

For most others, such a maneuver would have been suicide. Still weaponless, the Valkyrie ran at one of the toughest fighters in the Archipelago. Erik, surprised by the sudden change in demeanor and the reckless maneuver, lashed out with the pommel of his sword instead of the blade. Rather than try to killed her, he was trying to incapacitate her. Drago made abundantly clear that he wanted her alive.

But the fact thathe tried to hit with the pommel rather than the blade was irrelevant, because he came nowhere close to hitting.

Without breaking her momentum, the Valkyrie simply dropped to the ground, her body sliding forward across the snow as she passed under Erik's stroke easily. Even as she moved passed, the Valkyrie scooped up her spear from under Erik's foot without losing a shred of momentum. Even as Erik turned around to face the Valkyrie, she had already shoved herself back onto her feet, her spear at the ready.

And the odds were suddenly even again.

In contrast to the defensive battle Astrid was fighting moments ago, it now seemed as if the Valkyrie couldn't deal out the attacks quickly enough for her liking. Her weapon moved more like an extension of her arm than an implement of war, and it never failed to block a single attack.

Not that many attacks were being thrown the Valkyrie's way. It was all Erik could do to defend himself as it was, and even then, he was beginning to sprout some superficial wounds. A smashed finger on his sword hand, a shallow cut across his knee, a scratch precisely struck right on his forehead that bled into his eyes, obscuring his vision.

Both combatants knew the battle could only end one way. The trappers surrounding the pair knew as well, though none wanted to be the first to step in and help Erik. For they feared, and rightly so, that they would share his fate.

All the Valkyrie needed was for Erik to make a single mistake, and the fight would be over.

And then, Erik slipped.

One of his feet skidded on the icy, treacherous ground of the plateau, throwing off Erik's balance for a single moment. Though it was noticeable, few warriors would be able to react with enough speed to take advantage of it.

The Valkyrie could.

The Valkyrie tore forward, almost impossibly fast, her spear coming in high. With his balance stolen, Erik could not properly retreat, and so lifted his shield high to block the incoming attack, his sword down low to impale the Valkyrie as she charge.

Exactly as the Valkyrie intended.

The Valkyrie's foot came up at the last second to smash the flat of Erik's blade, slamming it cleanly out of Erik's hand. Her spear point came down on the tough wooden shield, burying itself several inches deep.

Then the Valkyrie let go of her spear, ducked low, and slammed her shoulder into Erik's now unprotected belly.

And Erik was suddenly flying, lifted cleanly off the ground as the Valkyrie straightened, flinging him behind her. He crashed down into the snow, weaponless, gasping for breath, defeated.

With the casualness and grace of a hunting cat, the Valkyrie moved to her fallen opponent. She grasped her spear, still embedded in Erik's shield, and wrenched it free.

Then that spear came plunging down, and Erik made no move to stop it.

But Astrid did.

As she stood over the trapper, her older brother, the perfect concentration of the Valkyrie fractured, just enough for the strike to be stopped, inches from Erik's throat. A part of Astrid, a very large part, agreed with the Valkyrie. Her brother this man may be, but he was also a dragon trapper, an embodiment of what she had fought for more than half her life. She, a dragon rider, lived to undo his work, and he lived to undo hers. To kill him now was to rid the world of one more of his kind, even if she failed to escape this place.

And yet…

She couldn't kill him. Not to man she had once called brother. He had said that he become a trapper only after _she _had been taken away by a dragon. Could she say, that if the situation had been reversed, that she would not have done the same?

No, she didn't even want to think about it. Being pitted against Valka and Hiccup… against _Stormfly. _She couldn't-

A familiar squawking sound reached her ears.

"Stormfly?"

There she was. Along with all the other dragon riders, swooping down towards the plateau. At the sight of the riders, the trappers all around her and Erik finally seemed goaded to some action. They drew weapons, charging to meet the oncoming dragon riders.

"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted. The dragons bulled their way through the ring of trappers, with Stormfly landing on the plateau just long enough for her rider to leap on.

"Let's get out of here girl" Astrid said to her dragon, who was all too eager to be off. The nadder launched herself into the air.

They almost made it out.

Even as Stormfly spread her wings, there was a ferocious scream from behind her. Astrid turned her head just as Stormfly took off, and caught sight of a metallic object spinning through the air towards her.

Erik's sword.

She tried to warn her dragon, to evade the spinning weapon, to do _anything_, but she was simply to slow. She let her brother live, and now she was paying the price for it.

The blade struck Stormfly in the right wing.

There was a roar of pure agony, and then the two of them were spinning downwards. Having cleared the edge of the cliff on which the plateau rested, they now hurtled towards the ship infested waters.

There was nothing she could do to stop or even slow their dreadful descent.

She felt her face hit the water, felt something hard clip her forehead, and then she knew no more.

* * *

Hiccup saw it all. He saw Astrid almost escape, and then fall to the dark waters below. He lost sight of her as she plunged into the murky waters, but that didn't stop him.

He plunged after her.

But, all so suddenly, the whole hideout seemed to come alive. Men on the docks of ships sprang to life, aiming bows and crossbows at the now vulnerable dragon riders. Toothless was force to dodge to one side as a net came flying at him. But still, Hiccup pushed onwards. Now, most of all, Astrid needed him, and he was just-

Something huge grasped onto Toothless and began pulling him backwards.

"BLADE! LET US GO!"

Sure enough, the boy and his massive boneknapper had grasped Hiccup's night fury in his claws, and was now dragging him back towards the exit. Struggle as he might, Toothless could not escape the much larger dragon.

"I AM NOT LETTING YOU GET YOURSELF KILLED OVER THAT GIRL, HICCUP! IF YOU GO DOWN THERE, YOU WON'T BE COMING BACK!"

Hiccup was aware of a voice, his voice, screaming back at Blade, telling him to let them go back. That they _needed_ to go back. But it seemed like a very, very distant part.

For beneath that anger was layers upon layers of grief, of sadness. So much so that everything else was blocked out. He was only vaguely aware of his surroundings, that they had gotten free of Drago's hideout without further incident. He was vaguely aware of Mira and Balder, speaking soothingly to him and trying to calm him. Shade still did not let go of Toothless until they were far, far away, fearing that the moment he let go, Hiccup would go winging back in the direction they came.

So deep in his turmoil of emotions that he did not notice that one of the other riders was missing until they were back at the Sanctuary.

Valka had also been left behind.

* * *

**And there we have it. Act 2 done. Get ready for the most epic thing that you have seen since the release of HTTYD2... well, maybe not that epic, but we're going to try our best. Stay tuned **

** Review, favorite, follow, and as always, have a good one. **


	25. Interlude: Valkyrie's Blood

_Does not everyone deserve to be loved?_

_For many, it is something taken for granted. For others, it is something worth dying for. In all its forms, love is a motivating force behind many of our actions as humans. Or as dragons. _

_Why, then, do we find it easier to hate than to love? Why is it easier to see our differences than our similarities? Why do we find it easier to fight than to make peace?_

_If someone were to ask me, I would tell them this; It is because hate stems from fear, while love stems from trust. _

_Fear is a natural part of each of us. Every living being feels fear, though some people will try to deny it. From a place of fear, one can easily moved to a place of hate. When we fear something, we begin to associate all bad things with it, turning it into something so monstrous within our minds that we it is hardly recognizable as the thing we originally learned to fear. _

_Yes, fear is very much natural. Trust, on the other hand, is not. _

_While fear is a natural part of our instincts as living beings, trust is most certainly not a natural part of who we are. From a completely practical perspective, trust is a weakness. From a completely practical perspective, we cannot truly place our trust in anyone but ourselves, for we can never see things entirely from another's point of view. _

_Yet trust is the foundation of love. _

_Love. Is there a more beautiful thing in all the world? A gift, a great gift, to all reasoning beings, I say. It is perhaps the greatest driving force behind our actions. Whether it is love for others, love for an ideal, or love for one's self, the love of one person can create or destroy entire civilizations. _

_I have known love. I love Valka, who is as a mother to me. I love Stormfly, who is my greatest friend. And I love Hiccup as… something more. I could not imagine my life as it would be without love._

_That is why, when love is betrayed, it feels worse than any physical pain. Much worse. _

_I saw what had become of my brother. I saw how he had changed, how quickly the love within him had changed to hate. In his own view, I am the one who betrayed him. I, instead of dying at the hands of our most hated enemy, became like them. Bonded with them. Learned from them. _

_Yes, I did all these things. Someone made the choices for me when I was to young to make them myself, but never was any information withheld from me. When I grew old enough to make my own choices, I still continued on with my life as it was. It was a good life, and I believed great good when I followed the path I know walk. _

_But at times, I wondered if I shouldn't have gone back to my original home. To teach others what I had learned. _

_To stop a senseless war. _

_My adopted mother never made it a secret that she knew the cause of the war. The dragons that so often attacked Berk were sent there by the queen of their nest, a rare species of dragon called the Red Death. It forced the dragon to bring food to it, and so the dragons took from the most readily available source of food. _

_When she told me this, I was angry. I asked her why she hadn't taken steps to eliminate this dragon, why she had let it stay where it was and let the dragons and humans fight a centuries old war. _

_She told me that the Alpha of the sanctuary had forbidden any dragons under his command from going to the island of the Red Death. And if any dragon tried, the Alpha could force them to obey. _

_But that was no more than an excuse. In truth, she didn't believe the removal of the Red Death would make a difference. There was too much blood, too much anger between the two sides for there ever to be peace. Even if the Red Death was destroyed, would the dragons stop their attacks? After all, even dragons can learn to hate, and it is easy to hate someone who is trying to kill you and the ones you love, even if you fight not of your own will. And if the attacks never stopped, the Vikings would never stop fighting, would never stop hunting for their homes, their nests. _

_There could never be peace unless trust was exchanged._

_Not given, but exchanged, with both sides agreeing to peace in turn, trusting the other side to keep that peace. For this to happen, there must be change. There must be those on both sides that are willing to stop fighting, that _believe _peace is possible. That are willing to admit that they were wrong, and will willingly look for an option, any option, other than war._

_For our side, am I that person? Is Hiccup that person? Is Valka that person. Or are none of us capable of bringing about peace? Is no one in the world capable of such a thing?_

_I dearly hope that one day, there will complete peace between dragons and humans. But that is my hope, not my belief. _

_Astrid Hofferson, Dragon Rider, Valkyrie, Defender of the Dragon Sanctuary_


	26. Act 3: He Who Controls the Valkyrie

** I'm baaaacccckkkk! **

**Feels like a long, long while since I last posted a chapter, probably since I have been so busy with school. Coming up on the very end of the year, and can't slack off now, can I? Anyways, here is the next chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it.**

* * *

_There were no images in Astrid's dreams, only sounds, voices. Voices that screamed, cried out, and whispered brokenly through the grey din that was her present state of mind. Voices of two women, one of which held a familiar lilt to it. The other voice was low, melodic, and sounded as if dozens of young women were speaking in unison. _

_The voices blended and overlapped, until Astrid could not tell which voice was saying what. She was only aware of their words, and only a precious few of those. _

…_not what I asked for… my burden to bear…_

…_you are the one who brought…. not me…_

…_grateful, for never before…this…_

…_in exchange for two lives…two souls… one body…_

…_would give anything…pay any price…_

…_save her…please...anything you ask…_

…_save her…_

…_save her…_

…_save her…_

Pain.

That was what brought her out of her unconscious stupor. Pain in her arms, on her forehead, and in her chest. Breathing sent spikes of agony whenever she inhaled to deeply, and so she resorted to keeping her breaths as short and quick, though not so quickly as to hyperventilate.

Astrid opened her eyes, just a slight crack.

It was too dark to see anything clearly, and so Astrid waited for her eyes to adjust while taking in what she could with her other senses.

Her arms were held high above her head, stretched far enough that she had to stand on the tips of her toes in order to relieve the pressure on her wrists. Judging by the soreness in her shoulders, her wrists had been held like that for a good long while. Whatever was holding her- which she could see now were a pair of metal shackles- they seemed to be two sizes too small for her wrists. Even through her bracers, she could feel them chaffing at her skin, and her hands had turned purple for lack of proper blood flow. A second pair of shackles wrapped around her ankles, though those were not nearly as tight, and both sets were bolted to the wall behind her.

The wall… she was in the hold of a ship.

That became more clear to her as her vision adjusted, though it was barley enough light to see as it was. Only tiny streamers of moonlight that filtered through floorboards above her provided any light at all. With that faint light, Astrid was unable to make out the size or the shape of the room she happened to be in at the moment.

Of course, the first thing that popped into her head was figuring out a way to escape.

_First things first_, Astrid thought to herself, _start with the shackles._

However, before she got a chance to even start looking for a place to start, there was a sound of a keys turning in a lock, then a door creaking as it moved on rusty hinges. Torchlight bathed the room, and Astrid could finally get a good look at her surroundings.

The room was essentially square, with a wooden pillar dead center of it. Astrid was back against one of the side walls, opposite from the place where the door had opened, and in the sudden light, she saw the walls were lined with dozens of sets of shackles, each hanging open like hungry gaping maws.

Except for the few that held what looked like skeletons.

But Astrid's attention was on the men who came walking into the room. Three men entered, two of which she did not recognize and were dressed in the attire of normal guards. The other, larger, bury, and wrapped in a cloak of dark dragon scales, she had never seen, but had heard described enough times to know him after a second or two of recollection.

Drago Bludvist.

The two of them came straight towards her, with the guard at Drago's right shoulder holding the torch and trailing behind Drago like a faithful dog. As they approached, she simply ignored Erik and glared directly into Drago's eyes. If there was one thing she knew, it was that it was not a good idea to show fear in front of this man.

They stopped in front over her. While the guards on either side of Drago stood impassively to the side, their faces expressionless, Drago himself locked his gaze with Astrid's, as if trying to overpower her with his gaze alone.

But Astrid matched his stare as the seconds ticked by. If he wanted to intimidate her, he would have to do better.

Or so she wanted him to think. She didn't want him to see the very real fear that was gnawing at her insides.

"Valkyrie, your awake. Good." Drago said. His voice was rough, as if his throat was coated with sandpaper, low and dangerous.

"I have heard much of you. Too much. I expected… something more."

Astrid knew he was trying to goad some reaction out of her. But the stubborn, Viking part of her couldn't help but throw back a stinging retort.

"Many have said the same thing." She replied "I showed them that appearances can be deceiving."

Her defiance only seemed to amuse him. He chuckled, a sound with no warmth in it.

"You are a bold one. Hmmm. Yes, you will serve well."

"I will never serve you" Astrid spat.

Again, Dragon just chuckled his soulless laugh.

"One way or another, girl, you will serve. I have met many like you over the years. You will not be ther first one I have forced to serve me, and you will not be the last" He shoved his face to within and inch of hers, "you _will _serve."

But Astrid was determined to get the last word in.

"Perhaps, but there will always be those who defy you. Always there will be those that will hate you, fight you, and kill you, if they can. And though it may cost me my life _i… will.. never… serve you."_

"Really" Drago said darkly, all traces of black amusement gone. "There were many who once said your brother would never serve me. And yet… now he does. With relish, I might add."

Astrid gasped. There was more to Erik's apparent madness than met the eye. It was not just something that had come from him, something that had come from his own grief and sorrow.

No, someone had done it to him.

"What have you done to him Drago?" Astrid hissed, her voice low and dangerous.

"Did to him? I made him stronger, better, than ever before. He was weak when I first met him, weighed down by love, and honor" Drago spat "But I made him stronger. Made him more than he ever would have been."

"What you mean is you made him a slave." Astrid responded "You destroyed his conscience. Destroyed everything that made him who he was."

"Indeed. It was necessary."

_Necessary? Necessary?! _Had she been free of the chains that held her, Astrid would have thrown herself at Drago, ready to strangle him to death with her bare hands. Chained as she was, Astrid tried her best to keep her emotions off her face, but clearly, it was not enough, as Drago read them a easily. His dark smile returned.

"He used to be much like you. Defiant, stubborn to the last. But like him, I will control you too."

"I'm not afraid of you" Astrid snarled.

Drago laughed again, a sound that Astrid decided she thoroughly detested.

"Are you blind, girl? I have bent hundreds of men to my will. Whether through fear, torture, or other means. You will just be one more. Although, do not fret, Valkyrie, for you shall be unique among my warriors."

_That sounded ominous _Astrid thought

"Indeed, Valkyrie. I have heard many, many stories about your prowess and strength. Almost too many for my liking, but now, they will serve me well. Even before you have spilled blood in my name, the word will spread that the Valkyrie now fights for me. I will see to that."

"Men have tried to break me before, Drago. You are not the first. Nor, I am sure, will you be the last. I fear not death, nor torture, nor anything you can throw at me. So do your worst, for I will weather anything you can deal until I escape, or I am rescued."

There was a long pause that went between them, and Astrid fancied that she could see the dozens of mad emotions that flitted through Drago's eyes, too quickly for her to discern. He stood simple facing her for a good half a minute, and Astrid was suddenly acutely aware of just how… _helpless_ she was before him.

In all her life, Astrid had never been so completely helpless against any of her foes. But she silently vowed that, no matter what he did to her, she would defy him every step, in any way she could, however minor. Unfortunately, Drago seemed to be able to read her intentions in her eyes.

"I have little doubt that anything I do to _you _will only make you more rebellious." He growled. "But if there is one thing I have learned, it is that people will do anything for those that they love."

_Now _Astrid lost it. She threw herself forward as much as she could, though of course the chains around her wrists and ankles hardly met her move an inch. Still, the rattle of the chains and the suddenly furious expression on her face were enough to cause Drago to take a step back in sheer surprise, a sight Astrid would have found immensely satisfying if not for the situation.

But then his grin returned, mockingly out of reach.

"Heh, I thought so." He turned back to one of his flanking guards "Let her see it. Show her what the price is for her defiance."

The guards pulled something out from behind his back, then tossed it forward to land at Astrid's feet. It was long and narrow, hooked oddly at both ends, and clattered hollowly against the wooden floor of the hold in which they were in. At first, it was difficult to make out in the dim torchlight, but Astrid did not need to see it in detail to recognize the weapon.

It was Valka's staff.

"It is simple, Valkyrie. You fight for me, or she suffers and dies horribly. And then your dragon is next. And then every dragon rider you every called friend."

Astrid was silent for a long, long time, trying to fight past her sudden surge of anger, fear, and raw hatred she suddenly felt howling in side of her. This man, no this _monster, _was the embodiment of everything that she had ever fought against. In that moment, there was no greater evil than Drago Bludvist in the world. The man who twisted her brothers mind into something horrible. The man who killed and _tortured _both dragons and humans for the pleasure of it. And the man who was now threatening the one thing that meant most to Astrid. Her friends. Her family.

No.

She knew they would never want her to give in to this madman. No matter what torture any of them sustained. And she knew if she did, she would hate herself for it.

"_I…will…never…serve…you!"_

"You will. One way or another, you will."

And with that, he left, leaving Astrid alone in darkness.

The anger, the hatred, the fury all bled out of Astrid at that moment, and the full weight of her actions hit her. With her defiance, her show of bravado, she had just condemned Valka and anyone else Drago had in his clutches to torture and worse, when she had the chance to make it otherwise. Yet she had foolishly sacrificed them for the sake of her own pride.

The Valkyrie scorned such thoughts, telling her that he would torture them anyways, no matter what she said. That she was not responsible for _them. _That it was not her duty to protect those that could not protect themselves-

But… wasn't it?

The Valkyrie part of her had hated for so long that it forgot why it hated, knowing only that the hate itself was the end, and that the enemies she fought were the means.

But the part that was Astrid, the reasoning, caring, thinking part, whispered something hardly heard above the din of her roiling emotions.

_What is happening to me? What am I becoming?_

_What have I done?_

* * *

**So there we have it. I've actually written most of chapter 26 already, since I was debating which one I would post first, but this one I thought was the more logical choice. A nice, big start to act 3, and now things are about to get real interesting.**

** So please, review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one.**

** Cya!**


	27. Act 3: Fellowship Divided

**As I said, I debated which order to put this chapter and the one before it up in, and I choose to make this one second. I had already finished most of it, that that is why it is up so quickly. **

** Anyways, when I hit about chapter 30, I will be posting which OC's I will be using from the ones you guys sent in. There are some I am already set in stone upon, but keep sending in OCs anyways. The more ideas, the better. **

** And there we go. On to the story.**

* * *

Once they had gotten back to the nest, it had taken both Mira and Balder to prevent Hiccup from throwing himself at Blade. Toothless, too, was angry with the larger dragon rider, but restrained himself from an all out attack. Hiccup, however, was not so restrained.

"What is wrong with you?!" He all but shouted at Blade, who stood impassively, immovable, and solid. "Why did we leave them behind? Why Blade? Perhaps you can enlighten us with your incredible wisdom as to why Astrid and my mother were left to _die?_!"

Blade's expression never changed for the habitual, placid mask he wore.

"If you had gone after them, then all you would have done was get captured yourself. Since you didn't seem to be thinking clearly enough, I-"

"Thinking clearly!" Hiccup roared.

"Yes. Listen Hiccup. Ever since you've met those two there has been nothing but trouble for following them. I am not going to let you get yourself killed for those two."

"They aren't just _those two, _Blade. One of them is my mother, if you hadn't noticed. And the other.. well, you've been looking for an excuse to hurt Astrid ever since you two met, haven't you?"

"Hiccup, listen to me. This has nothing to do with the way I feel about Ast-"

"LIKE HELL IT DOESN'T!" Hiccup shouted, completely losing all measure of composure. "She has done nothing to you. NOTHING! Yet you still hate her! No, don't deny it, Blade. I have seen the way you look at her. Well, I can't change my feelings, and I love her."

"Then you are a fool!" Blade shouted back. "You know what your problem is Hiccup? You are way too trusting! You only ever see the good in people, and you never want to admit that you are wrong in that. But have you ever considered what you _really _know about this Astrid? Have you seen what she is _really _capable of?"

The two stood across from each other, staring into the others eyes, neither willing to back down an inch. Balder and Mira stood nervously off to the side. They had witnessed Hiccup and Blade argue before on more than one occasion, but never had it gone this far. It almost seemed as if blood was going to be spilled before they were over.

Behind Hiccup, Toothless stood impassively, not wanting to get involved in what was obviously a very personal conflict. But if things became violent, Toothless would not hesitate to join in.

Neither would Shade, Blade's dragon.

Hiccup had his fists clenched at his side, practically shaking with fury.

"I know her Blade. I know her as well as I know myself. I knew her when she was young, and I feal like it was just yesterday since we were back on Berk together. It is not that I just met her Blade, but that I never forgot her."

"That is why you do _not _know her, Hiccup." Blade snarled back. "You are so caught up in the Astrid that you once knew that you cannot see the Astrid that is right in front of you. And that Astrid, the Astrid I know, is a heartless, cold-blooded, murderer."

Hiccup ran over and smashed his fist into Blade's face.

Blade staggered back a step, more from surprise than actual pain. He lifted his hand to his nose, which had broken under the force of Hiccup's fist. As he pulled his hand back from his face, blood-coated his fingers.

Dead silence covered the beach of the nest as everyone held their collective breath. Mira and Balder were frozen, afraid that a single sound, or a single movement, might be the catalyst for the bloodbath to start. Toothless and Shade were had locked gazes and held each other spellbound, daring the other to make the first move.

It was Hiccup who broke the silence.

"Don't. Talk. Like. You. Know. Her." He rasped, emphasizing each word. "You have no idea what she has been through."

There was another pause.

"Fine then." Blade answered after a long while. "Go and save the love of your life. Go back and get yourself killed, for all I care. But mark my words, Hiccup."

"Your love for her will be the death of both of you."

And with that, Blade walked away, his giant, black boneknapper trailing behind him like a gigantic, malformed shadow.

* * *

Hiccup didn't see Blade for the rest of the day, nor the evening, nor well into the night. Yet Hiccup even as the sun dipped downwards and finally vanished beyond the horizon, Hiccup could find no sleep. He was angry at Blade, angry at himself, angry at the world. Not for the first time, he wondered what his life would have been like if he had never left Berk. If he had never run away from his home, his father, and his tribe.

If he had simply killed that dragon he found in the woods.

Before the thought came to the fruition, Hiccup banished it from his mind. He couldn't have killed Toothless then any more than he could now, and if he had stayed, the people would have discovered that the downed Night Fury had been more than just a fairy tale. He couldn't have stayed. He couldn't have without risking the life of his best friend.

His best friend. Toothless. A friend he was sure would never betray him, no matter what happened. Not like the way he felt Blade had betrayed him.

Moving quietly, Hiccup stood, looking over the sleeping forms of Balder, Mira, Dusk, and Tempest. Sure by now that they were sound asleep, Hiccup moved over to where Toothless lay.

The pair moved silently, making not a noise as Hiccup saddled his dragon and packed a bit of food from their meager provisions. Mira had made him promise not to go out after Astrid and Valka until after they had made some sort of plan, but he had said the words knowing he would break that promise. If Astrid and Valka had been captured, then every moment was a precious luxury that could not be wasted.

And so Hiccup and Toothless silently made their way out of the light of the dying campfire, moving like a pair of mice as they slunk out of the makeshift camp.

They almost made it out without being noticed.

"Hiccup?"

The voice made him freeze, and he turned around to see Balder awake, looking up and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Where are you going?"

It wasn't much of question, as Hiccup guessed by Balder's tone. He knew where Hiccup was going, and seemed as if he was just confirming his suspicion.

"I am going back, Balder" Hiccup replied. "I have to find them. And don't try and stop me. I've made up my mind." He turned to leave once more.

"Wait" Balder said quietly. Normally the other boy was not one much for talking, and so when he did, it was usually wise to listen. Despite himself, Hiccup stopped.

"Let's go somewhere where we won't disturb anyone's sleep." Balder said.

They walked, Hiccup, Balder, and Toothless walked until they reached the beach outside of the nest, then kept walking, round and round the island as they spoke.

"Alright, Balder, you got me. What do you want?"

Balder sighed at the harshness in his friends tone.

"I have never seen you like this, Hiccup. Me, Blade, Mira. Were all concerned about you."

"Concerned about me?" Hiccup asked "What about the people who got left behind. My mother and Astrid who might be captured or k…" he nearly chocked on the word "Killed"

"Hiccup" Balder said, his voice steady. "We want to help you. All of us. Even Blade."

At that, Hiccup's stoic mask melted away. Tears that he wouldn't let fall earlier now came.

"I…I can't lose her, Balder" Hiccup said.

"Astrid?"

Hiccup nodded.

Again, Balder sighed.

"I am no master in the intricacies of love, but… well, I guess that is kind of beside the point right now. I wouldn't want to leave anyone to those me."

"But"" Balder continued "If your feelings are going to impair your ability to lead, then we have to know. We cannot have you doing something reckless or stupid… like trying to sneak off in the middle of the night to by yourself."

Beside Hiccup, Toothless warbled in agreement, and Hiccup glared at him. Toothless was just teasing though.

_Really? My own dragon is now disagreeing with me. _He swatted at toothless playfully, coming nowhere close to hitting the agile dragon.

"Ya, well, if I go alone then I have the best chance of getting in and out without being seen. Plus, I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

"Reasonable, I supposed. But Toothless is a Night Fury, no? Last I checked, changewings were even more stealthy, and it just so happens that Mira's dragon is a changewing. I think she might be mildly insulted to think that you are more stealthy than her. And as for not getting anyone else hurt… well, I dare say that it is up to us whether we want to help or not."

Hiccup tried to speak several times, his mouth opening and closing, but with no sound coming forth. He tried futilely to come up with a response for several seconds, tried to argue against Balder's logic, before he just threw his arms up in the air in frustration.

"I give up"

Balder smiled "But you still want to go alone anyways, don't you?"

Hiccup's silence, once again, was answer enough.

"Well, were not going to stop you Hiccup. We just want to be sure that you are not running into a speed stinger nest without dragon nip, so to speak. We want to make sure you have a plan." Balder looked into Hiccup's eyes intently. "You do have a plan, right?"

"Well… sort of…kind of… no actually."

Balder gave Hiccup a disapproving look, like a parent would a young child.

"Ok, I guess you got me there" Hiccup sigh.

"Yes. Now, come back to the camp, and we'll talk this over with everyone once Blade gets back."

Sudden venom colored Hiccup's voice, and his face contorted into a scowl.

"I don't want to talk to Blade right now." He snarled.

"Hiccup" Balder said, his voice cracked like a whip "You and Blade are friends. You have both saved each other's lives in the past, and I daresay you two will do so again. You need to talk to him."

"And say what? '_Oh, I'm sorry, you were right all along. We should just stay behind and let Astrid and my mom die'_. Ya, no thanks Balder. I am not talking to Blade. He is unreasonable, and I doubt I can make him help to save my life."

"Even so" Balder replied "Just talk to him. Let him know that you still want to be friends. You-"

"If he keeps saying the things he says about Astrid, I'm not sure I want to be friends with _him._"

A long, long silence stretched on between them.

"Hiccup… there is a reason for that."

Hiccup's anger dissolved, partially, into curiosity.

"What-what reason?"

"I can't tell you" Balder replied. "I promised Blade that I wouldn't. When he is ready, he will tell you. Until then, just know that Blade's anger with Astrid is at least somewhat justifiable."

That was all Balder would say. Hiccup tried again and again to pry something else out of the other rider, but his efforts were ultimately futile. It seemed that Balder was not going to give up anything else, no matter what Hiccup said.

Finally defeated, Hiccup walked with Balder and Toothless back to the mouth of the tunnel into the nest. Before entering, Hiccup looked back over his shoulder at the waves crashing against the shore, and the vast blue ocean. Two thoughts spun through his head as he gazed out into the murky blackness of the night.

_Don't worry Astrid. I'll get you and my mom back. _

_What does Blade truly have against Astrid?_

* * *

**More character development on the other riders! Awesome! ****Very mysterious as well. If you guys were hoping to find out what happens to Astrid, don't worry, cause the next chapter we will be going back to her.**

**Review, follow, favorite, and as always, have a good one. **


	28. Act 3: Escape or not

** You probably will be surprised by the end of this chapter. That is all I will say. **

* * *

Escaping captivity, Astrid mused, was much easier than holding someone captive. For the captor, it was all about locking down every possible means of escape. But the captive only had to find one place where their captors had overlooked, and they would be free. One tiny slip up, one tiny gap in the armor. And so, Astrid spent several hours searching for that gap.

The first option, calling for help, was a laughable prospect. Though Drago's men had not gagged her, she doubted there would be anyone to hear her, much less be inclined to help her. Which meant that Astrid, like so many times before, was on her own.

Breaking the shackles was nigh on impossible, though she did toyed with the idea of trying to work them free of the setting in the wall and pulling them free. That too, she discarded, for that would leave her hands still locked in the cuffs, and dragging them around with her seemed… counterproductive. Not only would they make a terrible racket, but if she ran into any trouble, she wouldn't want to be carrying around a set of metal chains behind her. If she was recaptured, the security would only get stronger.

If the shackles couldn't be broken or torn form the wall, then perhaps she could slip out of them. She worked her wrists around for a good long while, twisting and turning to the extent of her flexibility , though it amounted to nothing in the end. The shackles were excruciatingly tight, and short of breaking several bones in her hand, she had no chance to slide through them.

She bounced the ideas back and forth through her mind as the night dragged on, as she started to grow tired, hungry, and thirsty. She couldn't sleep, even if she tried, and no one had come to give any kind of food or water, nor did she think anyone would be obliged to do so any time soon. Soon her stomach was grumbling, her throat felt lie it was coated with salt, and her eyes were beginning to feel heavy, though her sore muscles and awkward position made sleep impossible.

Then, finally, it came to her.

Bracing herself against the wall, Astrid took all of her weight onto her sore wrists, lifting her feet clear of the floor. It took he several Astrid several attempts to accomplish what she was trying to do, but in the end, she could not be deterred. She brought herself high of the ground, close enough for the for her almost numb hands to get at her braid.

When she slumped back down, she held a tiny white feather in her right hand.

So tiny and insignificant, it had almost been forgotten, though Astrid had placed it there for just such a situation like this. A stray feather from one unfortunate seabird that a terrible terror had feasted on, one that Astrid had braided tightly into her hair. Most of the time, she didn't even remember it being there, but now, it was her key to escape.

For the root of the feather worked as an excellent lock-pick.

Granted, lock picking was much easier when you were not the one locked up. Or when your hands were not completely numb and purple from lack of proper circulation. Or when you were not tired, thirsty, hungry, and sore. Or when you could actually _see _what you were doing. Or when you weren't pegged to the wall and stretched out like a taut bowstring.

All in all, a daunting task. But one Astrid was up for.

She worked the small feather back and forth in the lock holding her right wrist, relying solely on feel and sound to guide her. The work was slow, with many, many false starts. After several minutes, Astrid still had nothing to show for her efforts, but she pressed forward with a growl, listening for the sound of tumblers moving, looking to turn the mechanisms at just the right angle for…

_There we go! _Astrid silently cheered as the manacle snapped open, and let out an audible sigh of relief as the pressure on her right wrist eased. It began to prickle as the feeling rushed back into it, blood flowing in and lightening the ugly purple of her hand.

But she didn't have time to enjoy the sensation, for her other hand was still held fast, not to mention her legs. Quickly, she shifted the feather to her other hand and began working on the manacle around her left wrist.

Not moments later, there was sound of movement outside the door of the room.

Quickly, Astrid thrust her right hand back up, snapping the manacle around it to an almost closed position. The feather, her one hope of escape, was clenched in her right fist, held above her fist as she assumed the same position as she was in minutes before, with the exception that the manacle around her right wrist was no longer locked.

And it was not a moment too soon. Just as Astrid finished, the door to her prison room burst open, and two men walked in, illuminated by torchlight. Two men that Astrid did not recognize.

Both of them were rather stocky, and only one of them had the height that matched his girth. As they moved into the room, Astrid saw the shorter of the two carrying a dim torch, which she could see their features. Both wore the wolf skin cloaks and armor like most of Drago's men, and they both had swords strapped to their waists. For the shorted one, his sword was on his left hip, but for the other, his sword was on his right, Astrid noted.

Guards, then, or just common soldiers. What were they doing here?

The taller one leaned over and whispered something to his friend as he approached, and the shorter one sniggered. She had no doubt at all that they noticed she was not unconscious or asleep, yet they did not say a word to her. The simply continued to move closer they were only an arms-length away from her, an uncomfortably close distance. The shorter of the two set the torch in a sconce on the wall before moving up to stand beside his companion.

"Feels horrible to be the loser, eh, Valkyrie?" The taller one said. His eyes roamed her up and down, and Astrid had to fight the urge to tear her hand free and crush the man's nose.

"You cost us a good batch of money once, girl. Things like that might make people hold a grudge" He went on. His breath was sickening, and it was all Astrid could do not to gag at the stench of it. She had to consciously remind herself that if she struck out, she would reveal her plan of escape. So she would tolerate him. At least, to a point.

She did not respond to the man, but just turned her head away, unwilling to meet the man's eye. It was only moments later, though, that he grabbed her by the chin and forced her to face him again. He favored her with a gap-toothed grin, a sight that was utterly revolting.

"Well, Drago won't mind if we don't do any permanent damage, and seeing as how you can't pay me back in money…" his hand drifted from Astrid's chin, grasping the front of her tunic.

That was enough to make her snap.

Whatever he was about to say next, Astrid would never know. Probably more taunts as he had his way with her, helpless as she was. Unfortunately for the man, he had no idea that he had just made a terrible, potentially fatal mistake.

With a click, the manacle around Astrid's right wrist fell free, and Astrid's fist flew forward to smash the directly into the fools face. He didn't even have time to register the fact that he had been hit before he was suddenly unconscious. In wake of it, Astrid's hand hurt abominably, though she supposed she should have suspected that this one's skull would have been particularly thick. She couldn't waste a moments time nursing that hand, however, for there was still one other man to deal with.

But, perhaps because of her level of exhaustion, Astrid was a fraction of a second too slow as her hand shot out to grab the second man's tunic, missing it by a scant few fingers-breadths. He was out of range for her to grab him with her one free arm.

Luckily, Astrid had another plan. For Valka's staff still lay on the floor by her feet, right where Drago had left it hours before. Close enough that she could reach it with her toes. And that was enough.

Hooking her toe under the staff, she flicked it up into the air, snatching it up and turning it as it flew, letting it fly out to its full extension. It shot out after the fleeing man, and this time, Astrid got more luck than the time before. The hook at the end of the staff snagged on the back of the man's cloak, and he came to a jerking stop that nearly wrenched the staff from Astrid's hand.

Using all the leverage and brute force she could muster, Astrid yanked backwards. Caught off balance, the man stumbled backwards towards Astrid. Dropping the staff, Astrid's arm shot out, locking her elbow around the man's neck, and began to squeeze.

He struggled mightily, grapping onto Astrid's arm and trying vainly to break her hold, but she held on stubbornly as he thrashed like a hooked fish. Several times, he almost broke free, but Astrid threw everything she could into the chokehold, and gradually, his struggles ceased as he began to lose more as it became more and more difficult to get enough air. Finally, several long minutes, he subsided completely, gasping for air.

Astrid eased the pressure on his throat, though only a little bit. Moving her head so it was right by his ear, she hissed out the words.

"How many other dragon riders were captured? And how many of their dragon?"

"Please" The man gasped out, barley able to force enough air from his throat to make a sound. "Please… let me go… I… I won't say… that you… got out."

"Answer the question" Astrid snarled, though her anger and apparent strength were largely bravado. If her mustered p enough strength to try and break free again, the doubted she would be able to resist. Fortunately, the man did not know that, and it was all he could do to get enough air to speak as it was, let alone struggle.

"Ju-just two dragons… no…o-other…riders" He gasped.

"Don't lie to me" Astrid said angrily. "Another woman, a bit taller than me. Brown hair, green eyes. Ring any bells?"

But the man was adamant in his original statement.

"No… no others. Just you.. a-a nadder… and a st-stormcutter"

Astrid mulled it over for a few moments. Two dragons, one of them she assumed was Stromfly, the other probably being Cloudjumper. She doubted that the man was telling her about the dragons yet deliberately leaving out facts about Valka, but if that were the case, where was she? If it had been her that was captured, then Cloudjumper might have had a decent chance of escaping all on his own, but if he was captured, the odds that Valka could have escaped were slim indeed. Furthermore, Valka's staff was right here in front of her, an item Valka was rarely without.

So the choice came down to whether Drago was lying to her to torment her, or the man she was holding was lying for… whatever reason.

Whatever the case, Astrid knew her time had just become a precious resource. She removed her arm for the man's throat, only to smash it into his temple an instant later, dropping him like a stone.

Another mistake on the part of these two. The shorted one carried a set of keys.

Astrid was surprised that the manacles on each limb all required separate keys, though all those keys would be placed on the same key ring. Probably, it was to make it that much harder to pick the locks, but Astrid was not one to complain at the stroke of good fortune. Within half a minute, she was standing free, massaging her left wrist and ankles as the blood began to circulate through them.

She needed some weapons.

* * *

She locked the two guards in with the manacles that had held her, each with one hand in. She also took a small knife from them, as well as a blowgun and several darts coated with a poison Astrid know to be a tranquilizer. With those and Valka's staff, she now had a few weapons. She wondered whether or not she should take their swords as well, but then thought against it. She was more comfortable using Valka's staff as a weapon then either of those rusty pieces of iron.

So, very, very slowly, she eased open the door and looked into the darkness beyond.

A long, dark hallway, running from left to right, disappearing into darkness in both directions. As far as she could tell it was empty.

And so she crept through the hold, navigating not by sight, which was all but useless in the pitch-black structure, but by feel and sound. She kept one hand in contact with the wall at all times, feeling her way long like a blind person, while she pointed Valka's staff out in front of her so she wouldn't run into any obstacles. Twice, she could have sworn she heard the sound of footsteps, but she never saw a flicker of movement anywhere.

And so she went on. And on. And on. The halls twisted and turned like some sort of insane maze, and Astrid began to suspect that this ship-if it was a ship at all- was much larger and more complex than it seemed to be from the surface. Pathways didn't just turn side to side, but sloped downwards and upwards now.

In the darkness, Astrid doubted there would be any way for her to navigate out by herself. Still, she pressed forward, if for no other reason than to keep herself moving away from anyone else who might be roaming around after dark. Of course, she might just as easily run into them.

Then, when it seemed like she would simply slump to the floor out of sheer exhaustion, she felt a slight breeze. So slight, she thought it might be, it was a definite breeze, nonetheless. Quickly, she started to moved towards that breeze, hope lending her new strength. As she moved, the slight wind grew stronger, a small, teasing bit at a time, but definitely blowing more strongly.

And so very suddenly, there it was. A stairway that moved up and up and up, leading to what looked like a door. Light, faint light, streamed through the cracks in the door. She began to move towards that blessed light.

Then the door opened.

Astrid's elation turned to horror as the door swung inward, and no less than four men began to move down the stairs.

Astrid panicked. She was close enough to the bottom of the stairs that the men had not seen her yet, but it would only be a matter of seconds before they did, if she didn't move. Even if she did, the chances that she would be able to outrun them in the darkness were slim indeed. One of them carried a torch, she noted, and they probably all know the ship better than she did. Astrid found herself frantically backpedalling, down the stairs and into the hallway.

As she turned around, she was so intent on the men behind her that she didn't see the arm reaching out to grab her until it was too late.

One arm encircled her midsection, pinning both her arms to her side. She let out an instinctive yelp, but it came out as no more than a squeak as a huge hand clamped over her mouth.

She tried to twist and turn, but the grip of her captor was like iron, and she had not the strength to resist him. Dragged along as if she weighed no more than a newborn kitten, Astrid found herself moving to the yawning portal of one of the doors she must have passed earlier.

All Astrid could do was writhe helplessly as she was dragged inside, and the door was kicked closed with a hollow slam. Complete blackness surrounded them.

"Shut up" a voice whispered in her ear "Before you get both killed. I'm trying to _rescue _you."

That voice. It was familiar, but probably the last voice she expected to hear from someone what wanted to rescue her.

The hand around her mouth moved away, and Astrid couldn't help but blurt out his name in sheer disbelief.

"_Blade?"_

* * *

**There we have it folks. **

**As always, review, follow, favorite, and as always, have a good one!**

**I'll see you next update!**


	29. Act 3: What Have I Done To Wrong You?

**Had some trouble righting this chapter, so it came out later than expected. But it is done now so here we go. Brace yourselves for a long one. **

* * *

"Shhhh..!" Blade hissed, slapping his hand over Astrid's mouth again. "Whatever you need to say, I'm sure it can wait."

If Astrid's arms had been free, she might have taken great pleasure in ripping the arm of which that hand was attached to out of its socket. But struggle as she might, Blade had her arms pinned, and so she eventually just gave up. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done so by now.

The door in front of her, the one she and Blade had just entered, lit up with torchlight that ran through the crack in vivid orange lines.

"I could have sworn I heard something." A voice said on the other side of the door.

"Ahh, your imagining things" came another voice. "No one is up this late at night."

"Except us" A third voice grumbled. "Why are we patrolling down here anyways? No one is going to escape Drago's prison."

"The girl might" The first voice said "'heard she is stronger than a dozen men and faster than an angry skrill. Put that Erik boy on the ground, she did."

"Ahh, quit your whining. We got our work to do, and Drago will 'ave out heads if he finds out you two have been standing here complaining all night."

The light of the torch fade from the door, as well as the muttering of the men beyond.

Only when no more light shone through and complete silence ruled did Blade's grip ease.

As soon as the weight of Blade's arms around her was gone, Astrid turned around and smashed her fist into his stomach. He only staggered backwards a little, but he was obviously surprised by the suddenness of the attack. Astrid found it very satisfying.

"You idiot!" Astrid whispered as loudly as she could-no easy feat. "What the Hel are you doing here!"

Blade had to catch his breath for a second before he was able to speak.

"Your…very welcome. No need to thank me"

"Maybe I'd rather be by myself. It's probably safer than being with you." Said Astrid, though she admitted, at least to herself, that she was glad to see a familiar face. "How did you get in here, and where is everyone else."

Now that she was in the room, Astrid could see that it was not completely dark, but was illuminated by a tiny lantern, sitting on a small cabinet next to a wooden cot. As her eyes adjusted, Astrid was able to make out Blade, who had shed his normal black, spiked armor for a suit of dark leather and a wolf-skin mantle that many of Drago's men wore.

"Many of the men in Drago's army are mercenaries. It is easy to pose as one… or replace one." Blade replied stiffly, still rubbing his stomach where Astrid had nailed him. "As for the others… I came alone."

"Really? Oh that is just perfect. Lucky me. Of all the people to come looking for me." Astrid said, a sarcastic lilt to her voice "Am I to swoon like some grateful damsel, and leap into the arms of my rescuer?"

"Hardly" Blade chuckled, a sound that held little humor and much mockery. "But I risked my hide to come and save you, so the least you could do is cooperate."

He turned away from her, moving towards the far side of the room and taking a seat on the wooden cot.

"Here is the deal." Blade continued "Sooner or later, someone is going to find out that you got out. Once that has happened, they are going to tear apart every ship looking for you. After that, they are going to send out boats and dragons to find you, hoping that you didn't make it too far. So we are going to wait. Wait till they have searched every ship and then sent their men out to look for you. After that, we slip out, and run like a hoard of night furies are after us."

Astrid started at him with an incredulous expression.

"Umm… well that is certainly one approach." She said after a few moments of stunned silence. "But… I think there are a few problems. Like, I have no idea where Valka is, or Stormfly, or Cloudjumper, and I am not leaving without any of them. Secondly… how are we going to avoid notice when they start 'tearing apart the ships'?"

"Well" Blade answered "As to your first question, I have no idea where Valka is, but I think she might have escaped, because were a bunch of search boats moving all over the hideout when I arrived. So she either escaped or was never captured in the first place. As for her dragon and yours, I know where they are, though they are both under very heavy guard. And as for how we will escape notice… well, let's just say that I have a trick or two."

Astrid wanted to inquire further about how Stormfly was, what Blade meant by his 'trick or two' and… well, everything else, but instead she just let out a sigh of resignation. She doubted Blade was going to tell her anything more, no matter how much she tried to pry it out of him. She didn't know if she should trust him, but she figured that if he meant to betray her, he would have done something by now.

Of course, the question still remained as to what he was doing here in the first pla-

Astrid staggered as a wave of dizziness rolled over her. She placed a hand on the wall next to her to steady herself as the world seemed to blur and spin. It passed quickly, though it left Astrid with spots dancing before her eyes and her knees suddenly weak.

"You alright?" Blade asked, and Astrid thought, _thought_, that there may have been a note of concern in that voice.

_Am I alright! _She wanted to snap back. _I haven't had anything to eat or drink in… who knows how long. The only recent sleep I've had was when I was in a prison. And my mother and best dragon are either captured or who knows were. SO, NO. I AM NOT ALRIGHT!_

Another wave of dizziness hit her.

"Astrid"

"Give me a minute"

Astrid rubbed her head, cursing her own weariness. She heard Blade's steps as she her moved towards her, then some a sloshing sound. Astrid looked up to see Blade standing in front of her, holding out a worn water-skin. He jerked it towards her.

"Drink" he said "It's just water, though I daresay you will need it more than I do."

Astrid eyed him skeptically.

"If I wanted to hurt you" Blade continued, never breaking eye contact with her "I would not do so with poison, believe me."

Astrid started into Blade's eyes for a good long while, assessing and weighing. Surely, if he wanted to betray her, he would have done so by now. He could have already given her up to Drago's men, or otherwise subdued her himself. And despite what she might feel about him, everything that she had seen of Blade pointed towards the fact that he was, at least as far as she could tell, honest. Stubborn, pigheaded, and overly suspicious, but honest. If he wanted to have her killed, he wouldn't poison to do the work.

Astrid gingerly accepted the water-skin and drank.

The water inside was heavenly. It wasn't particularly fresh, but it was cold, refreshing, and did wonders on her parched throat. She knew she shouldn't have been gulping it down as quickly as she was, but she just couldn't seem to help herself.

"I also have some food." Blade said as Astrid was practically trying to drown herself with her drink. "They're just ship crackers. They are harder to chew than rocks and taste worse than anything you would care to put in your mouth, but they'll keep you alive."

After draining the whole water-skin dry- and half of a second one that Blade handed her- Astrid took a go at said biscuits, and found that Blade had not exaggerated. The grey, round lumps of bread were so tough that Astrid wondered whether they were actually food, or if Blade was playing some kind of joke on her. Her jaw muscles were soon sore, and she could have sworn that she would never get that particular taste out of her mouth. She didn't even want to know how long they were going to be in her digestive system.

Still, they settled her stomach. Apparently their density attributed to how much they could fill a person.

"Alright, I'm ready." Astrid said.

"Ready? Do I need to go over the plan again?" Blade said it slowly, as if he were talking to an child.

"No. And I never said I wanted to go along with your plan." Astrid snapped. "If we are just sitting here waiting, we are just wasting time. Time that we might not have!"

Blade feigned a thoughtful expression.

"We don't" He asked innocently.

There, he had crossed a line.

"Blade!" Astrid all but shouted at him "What is it that you have against me!? What have I done to you to deserve your hate?! Answer me now, or you can say goodbye to your plan of yours, because I'll have not part in it!"

Blade slashed his hands through the air angrily.

"Keep your voice _down."_

"Give me a good reason to." Astrid said, though she did lower her voice a bit. "Give me a reason to trust you. Tell me why I should believe that Drago is the enemy and you aren't."

Something Astrid said must have struck a chord in Blade, for she had never seen anyone so livid with rage before. Blade's face turned red, and his hands clenched into tight fists that had taken on a bone-white color. His eyes blazed furiously, half afraid that he was going to lash out at her, Astrid instinctively took a step back. Or at least, she tried to, but she found her back already up against a wall as it was.

Then, after several moments, Blade seemed to almost… deflate. The anger seemed to drain away as Blade slumped suddenly, his gaze leaving Astrid's face and moving down to the floor. For and for a moment, he looked…

…sad.

"It doesn't matter" Blade replied, his voice somewhere between a growl and a whisper. "Either you would deny it, or you would just not care."

While Astrid tried to keep outwardly calm, she her mind was flying. What was Blade hinting at? What could he possibly be talking about? She looked back over every interaction that they had had over the past few days, but certainly nothing she had warranted Blade's behavior.

So something must have happened _before _they had met a few days ago.

"Tell me what it is Blade." Astrid said, though she kept her voice gentler this time. She was so very close, and she didn't want to mess up her chances now.

But Blade's eyes one more became opaque, like mirrors, giving away nothing. Silently, Astrid cursed.

"I said" Blade repeated "It doesn't matter. It is not something you will need on your mind for now"

"So you hate me, but you won't tell me why. You came to rescue me, even though you hate me. And even though you are 'rescuing' me, you don't seem to care at all about what I have to say about your 'plan'," Astrid said, biting of the end of each word "Forgive me if I am not so very eager to believe you when you say 'it doesn't matter'. Give me a good reason why I should follow you when I have no reason to trust you."

"Well" Blade replied "It seems as though trust is not something that can be given, only exchanged in turn. What reason do I have to know that you won't betray me?"

Astrid's eyes widened, and she her jaw dropped out of sheer incredulity. Was Blade always this impossible to deal with?

"Seriously?"

Blade just shrugged, then opened his mouth to reply, but Astrid cut him off.

"No, Blade. Give me a reason to trust you" Astrid said. She moved towards the door of the small room and but her hand on the latch to leave. "Or we'll go our separate ways right now."

They locked gazes and simply stared for a long, long time. Astrid saw a dozen different emotions shift over his face, ranging from anger to sadness to resignation. He let out a sigh, then crouched down to reach under the cot upon which he sat. From under it, he pulled out a sword. His sword, Astrid recognized, mostly because of the sheer size of the thing.

Astrid tensed, grabbing up Valka's staff again as he slid the sword out of its sheath, looking almost reverently at it. Its length was pitch black, much like the armor Blade often wore. Moving forward to stand right in front of Astrid, large and intimidating, he pointed the sword towards her.

Hilt first.

Astrid was more confused than ever

"I am doing this for Hiccup's sake, not yours. His judgment is clouded where you are concerned. He becomes reckless, and that is why I came without him. If you don't believe me, and if you think I will betray you, then take my sword, and run me through right now, and you find your own way out."

"I don't like you, Astrid. But Hiccup does, and trust me when I say I will see this through, if only for his sake."

Astrid was once more stunned by what seemed like pure insanity. This man who hated her, and whom she had come to hate back, was now putting his life in her hands for no more of a reason than the fact that she had disagreed with him. From that perspective, Blade's actions were sheer lunacy. He was giving her the ultimate decision, as well as all the power.

It made for the perfect test. Which, in turn, made it the perfect trap.

A test because Blade was seeking to prove to Astrid that she could trust him by placing absolute trust in her. A trap because he might know that she would not want to kill him anyways, and was counting on that to gain her trust.

Astrid reached for the sword… then withdrew her hand a moment later.

"Fine. We'll do it your way" Astrid said. She didn't see any other option other plausible option other than argue more, which would only waste more time. Or go out on her own, and though she didn't want to admit it, they would probably need each other if they wanted to get out of the situation alive.

She prayed that she chose correctly.

The first part of the plan had been surprisingly easy.

The two of them had gone over the plan in much greater detail until the alarm had been raised and men began searching the ship left and right for Astrid. At the sound of frantic booted feet, Blade had sawed a hole in the wall of a size that the two of them could squeeze through into the next room and set out from there.

Or so the Drago's men were supposed to believe.

That obvious lead was no more than a false one to conceal the actual route, which was a cunningly hidden passage down through the floor and down into a little used storage area below them. With the cut out block fitted back in place and a rug slid over it, no one would find that particular escape route for quite some time, especially if they wasted time following the false one.

From there, it took an hour for them to reach the dragon pens.

Getting there was a feet Astrid was surprised that they were able to pull off. As the "untrained dragons" were kept off the ships, away from the flammable ships, Blade and Astrid had to cross a fair amount of freezing water that could kill a person in minutes. Not to mention every inch of the vast enclosed harbor was watched.

And yet, with a pair of stolen outfits, a rowboat, and enough casual confidence to make anyone think they belonged, Blade and Astrid had managed to get through.

Now they crouched on top of an icy slope, scanning the rows upon rows _upon rows _of cages.

Astrid could not see a single one of the dozens upon dozens of cages that was empty. What did Drago plan to _do _with all these dragons?

The sheer number of captured dragons was horrify and revolting to Astrid. More than a hundred dragons were crammed inside them, some struggling, some too tired to fight, some left to die where they lay. There were few of them that we uninjured, though most of the injuries on them were superficial rather than debilitating, though obviously painful. Those injuries, combined with the fact that most of the dragons seemed to be sickly and underfed, led them to be a very sorry looking bunch.

And down there somewhere, according to Blade, were Stormfly and Cloudjumper were down there.

She spotted Couldjumper easily enough. Right near the front, the massive stormcutter rattled and shook his cage so hard that Astrid fancied she could feel the shaking from where she lay. He would have been spitting fire, she knew, had he not been fitted with a muzzle strong enough and large enough to accommodate his jaws.

Of Stormfly, there was no sign. Astrid franticly looked up and down the line, searching for some flash of yellow or blue scales, but her beloved dragon was not in sight. If she was down there, Astrid would have to get in closer to find her.

Then she saw the patrol.

A dozen men, all armed to the teeth prowling round and round the cages and keeping a supremely alert watch. They moved silently over the snow, heads turning left and right, hands never far from weapons.

At their head was Erik.

Erik. A jumble of confusing emotions hit Astrid at the thought of that name, but most prominent was fury. Here was her brother, a brother who represented everything which she fought against. A brother who tried to imprison and kill not just her, but her adopted mother, friends, and her dragon.

Astrid had stopped the Valkyrie from killing him in their last meeting. This time, she wouldn't make the same mistake.

"Get Cloudjumper" Astrid whispered to Blade, "Find Stormfly, then free as many other dragons as you can."

"What are you going to do?"

The look in Astrid's eyes drained the blood from Blade's face.

"Dealing with the guards."

* * *

**Blade is being a confusing character, I know. Lots we still don't really know about him, but maybe we will find out more later.**

**Get ready for Astrid vs Erik round 2 next chapter.**

**Be sure to Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one.**


	30. Act 3: To Defeat the Undefeatable

** Ok, I have an important announcement for this cahoter, one that many of you have been waiting so very patiently. And here it is, finally. **

** I AM ANNOUNCING THE OCS I WILL BE USING FOR RIDERS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO! YAY!**

** It has been a long and trying process, and I've had to pick just five OCs out of over the two dozen amazing characters sent to me. I unfortunately, this means that some peoples OCs will not get to be a part, but I would still like to thank you guys for your contribution, and don't be offended if your OC did not get picked. **

** Alright then, the OCs being used are...**

**...at the end of the chapter! Ha ha, I know that is mean, but hey, now you can read the chapter and then you can find out who won!**

* * *

When it came to matters of stealth, Valka had nothing to brag about. Oh sure, she could move quietly if she really needed to, but she couldn't help to notice that every step she took through the snow seemed to make an almost deafeningly loud crunch. She knew she was on edge, and the sound wasn't actually that loud, but that little piece of information didn't bring much comfort.

Especially in a camp full of enemies.

* * *

**Flashback**

Ever since the disastrous raid on Drago's camp, Valka had been on the run. Cloudjumper was taken down by a lucky launched net that struck him in the left wing, though he had managed to throw Valka clear before he crashed landed, that she would be captured with him if they were found together. She was hurled skyward as Cloudjumper bucked her off, losing her grip on her staff as she plunged into the freezing cold water.

The water was cold enough to kill a man in minutes. The instant Valka had hit the water, she felt the shock steal the breath from her lungs and the feeling from her limbs. She felt the freezing cold for a single instant, and then everything simply went numb. By the time she regained enough of her senses to know she should get out of the water, she could barely move her limbs.

Ultimately, it was luck that allowed Valka to survive.

She was close enough to the shore that she was able to make it to land within under a minute- anything longer and she would have died. She latched herself onto the snow-covered rocks with fingers too cold to feel them, and heaved herself up with all her might.

But that wasn't enough. Even as she lay there, struggling to pull herself out, she knew that the land would be no safer than the water. Not only was the chance of freezing still very possible, but there would be people looking for her. She had to find shelter, and she had to war, herself up. Fast.

The cold followed her as she stumbled onto the relatively dry land. It closed in on her, causing her to shiver so violently that she bit the inside of one cheek, then the other. If froze the water in her hair, in her clothes, until she felt as if she were wearing a suit of icicles instead of soft leather.

Valka moved towards the closest shelter, a low overhang that did little more than create a small patch of ground beneath it that was free of snow. Valka stumbled to that tiny patch of grey snow and curled up under it, shivering until her sides ached from sheer exhaustion. She never knew exactly how much time it was that she lay there, only that it seemed long indeed.

Or was it? For all she knew, the feeling of time itself may have been an illusion, a trick of her mind that seemed to be moving more and more sluggishly as the cold closed in, pulling her into an embrace that was oddly comforting, oddly seductive…

A part of Valka's mind was screaming at her to move, to fight the cold, to do _something, _but it was a very tiny, and very distant part. And it was becoming more and more distant, more and more faint. Come to think of it, the sights, the sounds, the smells, everything seemed to be fading away.

Then, there was… warmth?

Warmth indeed, almost agonizing warmth. Searing hot in comparison to the cold clutched her tightly. So searing that if felt like a branding iron on her skin. Yet there was a feeling of equally intense vigor that rose up at the feeling of that warmth, a focus on a single coherent thought.

_The dead feel no pain. If as long as I feel it, I am alive. _

She fought her way towards that warmth, that dot of searing hot pain. It seemed to oblige, wrapping around her, pushing away the cold, pushing away the numbness, wrapping around Valka as the cold had done only moments, or hours, before, for time seemed irrelevant.

Valka opened her eyes with the realization that they had been closed. And there, wrapping her tail around Valka and pulling her closer to share in her body warmth, was _Stormfly._

"Stor…" Valka started to say, but the sound ended in a ragged croak in her suddenly dry throat. She tried again.

"Storm…Stormfly?"

The nadder looked down at Valka, then nuzzled her gently, warbling in a comforting, familiar way.

"Stormfly… where is Astrid?" Valka rasped, though her voice seemed to be getting stronger by the second.

But Valka knew the moment she asked that question that something was wrong. She felt Stormfly tense at the mention of her rider, and her yellow eyes seemed to take on a distant look as she bowed her head in what looked almost like… guilt.

"Is she…" Valka meant to say the word _dead_, but was unable to force the word out of the lump in her throat. In any case, Stormfly seemed to read the look on her face clearly enough, and made a strange gesture with her head, as if trying to convey some message but unable to use words to get that message across. It was one thing that Valka was externally frustrated with in working with dragons. They were able to pick up the human language, but were unable to but things into words themselves.

Even as the thought went through her mind, something clattered to the ground beside her, something that Stormfly dropped there.

Astrid's spear.

"Captured?" Valka asked.

In response, Stormfly lifted her right wing, and Valka gaped in horror for several long seconds. A long, ragged tear ran across the entire wing, a cut that that spanned the membrane and ended just below the muscle. Valka reached her hand out, but could not bring herself to touch the horrible cut. Though Valka had seen it happen, hadn't realized that it would be this serious when she had seen…

…seen that man, the one Astrid had been fighting, throw his sword at Astrid as she had tried to escape on her dragon.

"Captured by the man who did that to you?"

The nadder's silence was confirmation enough.

Valka weighed the options. Cloudjumper was captured, along with Astrid. To get both of them out would be no easy task, even assuming she could get to wherever they were without being seen. True she did have one dragon with her but…

Stormfly could not fly. In fact, Stormfly might never fly again if the cut didn't heal properly. Yet, though Astrid had been captured, her dragon, who would have little chance of fighting off a band of trappers in the state she was in. Yet, they had gone after Astrid instead.

Like Cloudjumper and Valka, the two must have gotten separated.

All of that meant that Valka was in in this alone.

* * *

And so when she was ready, Valka had snuck into the camp alone, leaving Stormfly alone to nurse her injured wing. She didn't know exactly how they were going to get Stormfly out of the hideout, let alone all the way back to the nest without the use of her own wings, but at that particular moment, Valka couldn't afford to be overwhelmed what she

_One step at a time. _Valka said to herself. _First, let's get everyone else out alive. Then I can see about getting everyone home._

One slow step at a time, as quietly as she could, toward what looked like a collection of dragon sized cages. Hopefully she could find Cloudjumper there, then go on to find Astrid.

She prayed to whatever got was listening that she would not be too late.

* * *

The Valkyrie's movements were so very graceful that she seemed to be gliding over the top of the snow rather than walking. Anyone who would have seen her would have sworn that her feet did not touch the ground. She also moved in total silence, making less sound than a hunting cat as she closed in on her prey.

But for all her stealthy prowess, the Valkyrie did not use the opportunity to get the jump on the men. No, the Valkyrie wanted Erik to see this coming.

So she stopped as she crested the last rise between her and the group of trappers.

"Erik" She called out, not to softly and not to loud, in a voice as cold and hard as ice. "you and I have unfinished business."

The Valkyrie was a little bit disappointed by the fact the Erik didn't jump and reach for his weapon at the sound of her voice, the way the other men did. He simply looked over to where she stood casually, as if he had been expecting her the entire time. Even from a distance, the Valkyrie could see the smile that spread over his face and the mad gleam in his eye.

"I heard you had escaped, and I figured you would come here. Though I admit, I did not expect to see you carrying your mentors staff. Why is that? Did the old woman finally die?"

Erik's callousness only fed the fire that was the Valkyrie, but she didn't unleash it just yet. Not yet.

"You certainly seem confident, considering how our last encounter ended." The Valkyrie responded "You-"

Apparently, on of Erik's friends wasn't so eager to talk. Raising his crossbow towards the distracted Valkyrie, he fired, praying his aim was good enough cripple or kill the Valkyrie.

His aim was true. The arrow lanced straight for her heart, a blow that would have killed the Valkyrie instantly if it struck.

But it never got close to striking. As soon as the sound of the racing crossbow bolt reached her ears, Astrid snapped Valka's staff out in front of her tracing the projectiles path an instant faster than the time it took to reach her. With less than half a second to spare, Astrid swung the staff across and snapped the arrow cleanly out of their air, sending it spinning away with an audible _ping. _

The Valkyrie instantly snapped her gaze back to the group of men, expecting more arrows, but she needn't have worried.

"Hold your fire!" Erik roared at his men "She is mine."

"But-" One of them began to protest, only to be laid low as Erik spun around and smashed his fist into the man's face.

"No one is to interfere." Erik snarled "She is mine!"

The trappers wisely backed away, and Erik turned his gaze back to Astrid, who was now poised and ready. Erik's grin returned.

"I apologize for the interruption" Erik said mockingly. "I had to be sure this fight was fair, after all."

"That's all this is to you?" The Valkyrie spat. "Like, some kind of contest? Battle is battle. Whether you fight honorably or not, it makes a person just as dead."

"Heh" Erik laughed "Well, unlike a savage like you, some of us still have a concept of honor."

"Honor!" now it was the Valkyrie's turn to laugh. "What honor is there in your way of life? What honor is there in torture and slavery? What do you find fair senseless killing? You have no more honor, Erik Hofferson. You lost it the day you started down the path you now walk."

"Then you have only to blame yourself, _Astrid Hofferson_, it was your actions that set me on my path"

Erik had moved closer by then, shrugging off his wolf skin cloak to reveal his black leather armor. He unsheathed his curved sword, then took his shield from where it was strapped on his back. The Valkyrie was heartened by the sight of that shield, or rather, the prominent dent in it that she had put there in their last fight, a dent that had been caused by her winning maneuver.

This time, the Valkyrie intended to give Erik much more than a few dented pieces of equipment and a wounded pride.

This time, the Valkyrie was going to hand him his head.

The trappers behind Erik watched anxiously, though neither dared to invoke the wrath of their leader by attempting to so much as take a step towards Astrid. Astrid knew, similarly, that Blade was not far away, watching her, weighing whether or not he should rush forward to stand beside her.

But Astrid had warned him to stay away, not with her words, for words would not convey the deadly serious threat that was the Valkyrie

Erik was now only fifteen feet from her, and still closing. He spoke, but she didn't hear him. Her eyes were locked with his, sky blue as her own, assessing, weighing, falling into the familiar trance of pre-battle.

Fifteen feet. Another step closer. And another. And another. Now he was ten feet. One more step.

"… and once I finish with you" Erik went on, oblivious to the fact that she was not hearing his words "I will-"

The Valkyrie hurtled forward with predatory swiftness.

The circumstances were less than ideal. Astrid had never actually fought a real battle using Valka's staff before as she was forced to do now, and though it was basically similar to her spear, it was not the same. She was also still weaker than normal from her imprisonment, and she could feel her energy depleting at an alarming rate.

Still, she was the Valkyrie, and the Valkyrie could not loose.

Which made it all the more surprising when Erik not only blocked her first dozen attacks, but performed a brilliant counter that nearly took the Astrid's head from her shoulders.

The Valkyrie, even in those less than ideal circumstances, was an almost unbelievably skilled fighter, and said circumstances should not have qualified as an exception to the face that the Valkyrie could beat anyone. Certainly, the Valkyrie thought she had taken a measure of Erik's abilities in their last fight, and while he had certainly been above the average fighter, he simply could not compare with the raw speed and impeccable technique of his opponent.

But now, thing had changed.

Erik moved faster than before, dodging or blocking every single attack that the Valkyrie sent his way. He was stronger too, the Valkyrie realized, the shock of his blows as she parried were enough to rattle her teeth when they hit, and she felt her arms beginning to grow numb.

But the most profound change was in his ability to seemingly anticipate her every move, knowing what she was going to do even before she did, and acting on that knowledge even as Astrid started her own moves.

For the first time, the Valkyrie had met her match.

The Valkyrie spun the staff left and right, up and down, forwards and back, but every time, Erik just seemed a tiny step ahead of her every time. His attacks, in contrast, had the Valkyrie desperately dodging and parrying, and even then come of them got through.

They broke apart after several long minutes of battle, and by that time, Astrid was panting heavily, as much from exhaustion as disbelief, for Erik was unscathed after those first few minutes. In contrast, Erik had scored no less than four separate hits on Astrid, minor cuts on her right arm, shoulder, and twice on her left thigh. None of them were debilitating, but each of them was painful.

This was impossible. How could Erik have been enhanced so that he was now able to stand up to Astrid's other side and still emerge victorious? Even if she were in top fighting condition and wielding her more favored weapon, Astrid did not know if she could beat this new Erik. Had he been holding back in their first fight?

No. For some reason, Erik was now a greater fighter than before. Which was simply not possible, yet proof of it was here before her.

Now for the first time, the Valkyrie knew what it felt like to be on the losing side.

She stared up into the grinning face of her brother-who wasn't even breathing heavily!- as he walked to stand right before her, In his right hand, his sword shone bright red with blood, Astrid's blood, as he looked down on her with the supreme confidence of a conqueror.

"Do you submit?" Erik sneered, brandishing his blade. "I'm sure if you surrender now, Drago might overlook your little escape attempt and decide not to punish you for it. Although" he made a look of mock contemplation, stroking his chin for a second before adding "I believe you accommodations will be somewhat less comfortable than before. We can 't have you escaping again."

The Valkyrie had no more remarks to throw back at him, nothing more she could fight with, verbally or otherwise. While she could certainly stand up and fight, maybe even last a few more minutes, it was a battle that she knew she was unlikely to win. In the end, it would change nothing. Either Erik would kill her, or he would take her back to Drago's prison. Even if she called for help from Blade, he would not make it in time, provided he came at all.

Never before had the Valkyrie been helpless before any foe.

And finally, the Valkyrie had lost.

Lost.

Lost?

_Lost?_

And suddenly, the answer came to her.

No maybe she couldn't beat Erik as he was, with his enhanced strength and speed. If she used the same, she would never beat him, as weakened as she was.

So no it was time to change the rules of their little fight.

The Valkyrie surged forward, coming up from the snow in a swift rush that once again closed the distance between her and Erik in the blink of an eye.

Erik never flinched, but just came forward to meet that charge, whipping his sword across diagonally in an attempt to force Astrid back, lest she be split open from shoulder to hip.

Instead, the Valkyrie kept charging _forward, _raising her staff upwards at the last moment to lock their weapons together, though the force of stopping the blow sent a wave of numbness up the Valkyrie's arm. Only her right arm, though, for her left hand swung round even as Erik smashed his shield into the Valkyrie's chest, stealing her breath and sending her sprawling.

Valka's staff flew out of Astrid's reach.

But Astrid's plan had already done its damage. In that moment of contact, Astrid had used the distraction to swing her left arm around, burying a small dart in the side of Erik's neck. This particular dart Astrid took from one of the trapper guards back in her cell was coated, as all such darts were, with a powerful sleeping poison.

Now all Astrid needed to do was delay for a few moments…

* * *

**And now, as I promised, here are the winning OCs**

** _A sequel to Valka's apprentice_**

** _You have all heard of the famous Riders of Berk, but have you heard of the Riders of the Archipelago? Probably not, as their story has yet to be written. Six teenagers, fledgling dragon riders, will come to Berk from all over the Archipelago. Some are strong, some are swift, and some are more than a little bit crazy. They are all united, however, in their cause. To study under the greatest dragon masters in the world, and in doing so, begin a new generation of heroes. _**

**_ Their names are:_**

_**Lana Bystrom, and her dragon Skylark the windwalker**_

_** Aurora Haraldsson, and her dragon Nightsound the grey stalker**_

_** Avrak Swiftfoot, and his dragon Ziza the wooly howl**_

_** Baldor Odinson, and his dragon Krotr, the rumblehorn**_

_** Hax Kaspersen, and his dragon Sunflower the gronkle. **_

_** And finally, for the hero of our story, an OC of my own making...**_

_** He will go unannounced for now, as will his dragon, for when the time is right. **_

_**And so these are the riders of the Archipelago, an unlikely group of young vikings. Join them as they face new adventures, find new dragons, and forge new , one and all, to the Riders of the Archipelago.**_

* * *

**Again guys, I'm sorry if your OC did not get selected. It doesn't that your OC was bad, its just that I had to find several characters with personalities that could provide a wide spectrum of differing characters for which to create the story. So please don't take it personally. **

** Anyways, by now I'm sure you guys have forgotten all about the chapter itself, but be sure to still review, follow and favorite if you liked it!**

** As always, have a good one!**


	31. Act 3: A Sister's Betrayal

**Aaaaand I'm back! Whew, had some crazy writer's block during this chapter, but I made it through and now I can finally get it out to you guys! Also been having final exams, which tend to fill up ones life for a time, but I will still try and update as much as I can, though I won't promise anything. Anyways, this is a dark chapter. I was nearly in tears at my own writing near the end. **

** Read for yourself, and enjoy!**

* * *

She watched as he closed in, one small step at a time, each graceful step closing the distance a little bit each time. She made no move to oppose him, and doubted she could, for her last desperate ploy had been more costly than she was letting on. His shield bash had cracked at least one rib, which made breathing a painful process, as well as knocking her only weapon she had far out of reach.

Astrid could only hope the poison would stop Erik before he killed her.

He took another step forward, and now he was standing right over her, glaring down at her imperiously.

"Right were you belong. Down at my feet like the animal you have become." Erik mocked, fingering hilt of his sword thoughtfully.

The Valkyrie simply lay there, seemingly helpless as Erik moved right up to her, his boot no more than an inch from her face. And indeed, she was helpless against him, for he was only moments away from taking her life.

To Astrid Hofferson, not the Valkyrie, it seemed so very wrong to be getting that feeling from a sibling. Indeed, on the inside, Astrid was even now flying through memories, as she had been for the past several minutes. Memories of a brother, seven years her senior but the closest friend she had had on the Isle of Berk, the place she had once called home. A life-time ago, it was, yet she could see the memories flowing past her so clearly.

The time he had carried her home in his arms after she had sprained her ankle. The time she teased him about a trader girl he fancied, dramatically claiming that he was in love with her and he would one day marry her. The time when he helped a woman in the rebuilding of her house after her husband had been killed in a raid, after which she had paid him, but he arranged it so that her payment was discreetly returned to the woman, plus a little bit extra.

Those, and a hundred other memories flowed through that Astrid as she looked up at her brother, the man her brother had become. They seemed to stretch the moment out, to the point where time seemed imperceptible. Staring into his eyes, eyes that were as blue as her own, Astrid saw nothing but a monster where that loving, kind, gentle brother had once been.

Erik brought his sword up high eyes never leaving Astrid's, and for just a small instant, Astrid swore she saw some small trace of regret in her brothers eyes.

And then, Erik blinked.

He blinked again, and then again in rapid succession, then staged backwards as if struck. He fell to his knees in the snow, a look of pure incredulity that quickly changed to anger. He reach his hand up to the back of his neck, but by the time be pulled out the small dart Astrid had the damage had already been done.

"Witch!" Erik accused, though his voice was already weak, and getting weaker by the second. "You use a coward's weapon…"

He was down on one knee now, shaking so badly that his sword fell from his hands, though he refused to let himself fall down completely. He stubbornly held his ground on one knee, though Astrid could see his eyelids drooping, his muscles sagging as he fought against the tide of sudden drowsiness.

Then, Erik threw the last of his strength into one final yell, one not directed at Astrid, but at the dozen or so men surrounding them.

"KILL HER!" he roared. And with that he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

There was a brief moment of silence, of complete stillness, as if everyone were holding their breath at the same time. No one moved, as if afraid the stillness was fragile and was afraid to shatter it.

And then…

"You heard Erik! CHARGE!"

Like a pack of wolves the trappers closed in on fallen Valkyrie, who lay seemingly helpless in the snow. Valka's spear was far out of reach, much too far, now outside the ring of closing warriors.

Astrid tensed, coiling like a serpent about to strike, waiting, waiting, waiting for them to be a bit closer… just a bit more.

Just as Astrid was about to make her final stand-and most probably die in the process- a tremendous roar filled her ears. Every one of the trappers halted their advance and turned to gap in the direction of that mighty bellow.

Cloudjumper was free. And standing tall atop his back as he charged forward was Valka, Astrid's spear clutched in her hands.

The massive Stormcutter smashed into the edge of the circle with tremendous force. He hardly slowed as he tossed the closest man aside was a sweep of his crowned head, while battering his way through the break in the line with his wings.

Everything erupted into chaos.

The men scattered every which way in the face of the massive Stormcutter, desperately trying to avoid being the next target in line. Two of them had enough sense to grab the unconscious Erik and begin dragging him away. Another one, apparently thinking the distraction would be enough to let him get the strike in on the Valkyrie, charge to where she lay.

His mistake.

Despite her torn thigh, despite her cracked rib, despite the fact that she was tired, despite everything she had been through, the Valkyrie was not finished. For her prey was still in sight. Moving away, but not out of reach.

The Valkyrie leapt to her feet, bringing her arms up to clamp around the man's hands before he could bring his sword to bear against her. With a sharp twist, she yanked the sword out of surprised trappers hands, then wasted no time in smashing the hilt into his face, right between the eyes. He staggered backwards, blood dripping from his nose, but snarling away the pain and coming right back at her.

Then suddenly stopped, transfixed, as the blade a gigantic sword erupted from his chest.

He stared at Astrid for a blank second, lips moving as if to form some sort denial, and then he just toppled to the side, revealing the one who had killed him.

It was Blade.

Astrid's eyes locked with his as he pulled his sword free of the corpse, and a sort of understanding seemed to pass between the two as they stood there, the battle raging on around them. It was only for an instant, but in that instant, the two were able to convey something to each other, something that could not be spoken with words, just demonstrated with actions. Not quite an understanding, but a truce, if a temporary one.

Whatever their differences, they would see this through.

Astrid nodded, no more than a slight tilt of her head, but it was enough to get the message across.

She turned to look back to Valka and Cloudjumper.

The Stormcutter had pretty much holed up the remaining men and forced them into a tight spot. They gathered now in a tight group, shields faced outward to deter Cloudjumper's approach. Two of their number had already gone down, and the rest were frantically retreating in the face the his wrath, though they were weighed down by the fact that they were now dragging two of their companions with them.

Valka was not idle either. While Valka was not one to revel in combat, her fighting skills had sharpened somewhat over the past several years, and the spear she was using, Astrid's spear, was similar enough to her more familiar staff that she had no trouble using it effectively. She stood off to Cloudjumper's side, picking off attacks and delivering stinging strikes that darted past shields nd slipped through chinks in armor.

But all of this seemed as if in the background to the Valkyrie. For all that the battle in front of her was indeed titanic, he focus lay elsewhere, on a pair of men dragging away the only one that meant anything to her.

Her brother, Erik, was vulnerable , and moving further away by the second.

"Auntie Val!" Astrid cried out, moving towards where Valka squared off against a pair of opponents. Astrid paused only to scoop up Valka's staff as sprinted into the fight.

The man Astrid struck never stood a chance. Too focused on the target in front of him, he was taken completely by surprise from the enemy coming in at his side. He spotted her at the very last second, but by then it was far too late to block the Astrid's heavy swing, which dropped him like a stone.

The last man, now facing off against two riders without any companions at his side, turned tails and ran after the rest of his friends, now in swift retreat and calling for help with every step.

"Oh gods, Astrid are you alright?" Valka exclaimed with relief. She wrapped her arms around Astrid in a quick hug, then broke away just as abruptly. "We need to get out of here. Ther-"

Without a word, Astrid shoved Valka's staff into it's owner hand, then yanked her spear out of Valka's into her own.

"You and Blade get out of here. I'll follow"

"Wait-"

But Astrid, the Valkyrie, was already charging in the direction the fleeing trappers had gone. For her work was not yet finished.

She wanted, no, needed, to bring an end to her brother Erik while he was vulnerable. It was more than a desire for revenge, more than a simple desire to eliminate her enemy. It was a raw, savage _need, _something that could only be satisfied in one way.

Had Astrid been in control of herself at the moment, she would have questioned those feelings. Asked why?

But the Valkyrie was a creature of instinct, not reason, and the Valkyrie was in control now.

Vaguely, she could here Valka calling her from what seemed like a great distance away, but the Valkyrie was already so intent on her prey that it did not even register. She also felt the vague pain of her injuries she had sustained earlier, but they were also a part of the background, inconsequential in the face of the raw fury that burned away everything else. All she saw was the trappers, moving towards the relative safety of their boats, towing their wounded, Erik included, along.

But as fast as they were moving, they were not fast enough to pace the enraged Valkyrie.

The first one who tried to stop her hardly slowed her, and she left him in her tracks, clutching his eyes as blood ran down from beneath the eyelids, leaving blood tears streaked down his face. The second one, his hands shaking with sheer terror, simply dropped his weapon, and the Valkyrie dipped her shoulder and bulled her way through him.

The rest of them scattered, moving every which way, hoping this woman who was somehow more ferocious than any enemy they have ever seen would choose someone else to chase. The Valkyrie ignored them, and just zeroed in on her target.

There, on top of the next snowy rise, crawling groggily towards the ships, was Erik.

The Valkyrie's charge was almost impossibly swift, closing the gap between them in the blink of an eye. The rise upon which Erik lay proved to be no obstacle to the Valkyrie, who bounded up straight up the slope with great, loping strides, moving as if she were running on flat land.

With a final leap, the Valkyrie jumped across the distance separating her from Erik, landing right next to his prone from, her spear raised.

And now, she was in this same spot again. Where she had a chance to kill him. The hand he lifted in pitiful, groggy defense would not even slow the Valkyrie's attack. She had him beaten.

As before, the Astrid part of her screamed at the Valkyrie to stop. She pleaded and begged, unable to bear the thought of leaving killing someone who was once a part of her family, no matter what they might have done to deserve it.

Unlike before, the Valkyrie would not be denied her kill. With a raw, primal scream, she shut out that pleading, weak voice from her mind with a wall of fury, a tide of anger with no source, unless it was it's own source. The Valkyrie raised her spear high, then brought it straight down. The spears shaft whistled as it cleaved downward, as if the air itself were shrieking in pain.

And yet, once again, the weapon failed to strike the fatal blow.

A tiny moment before the spear would have been driven through Erik's heart, something grabbed onto the Valkyrie's shoulders. Something huge, with great claws instead of hands. It lifted the Valkyrie up, up, up, high off the ground, away from her brother, into the sky, pulling her back the way she had come.

The Valkyrie acted without hesitation.

Astrid stabbed her spear upwards before she could stop herself.

She felt it sink into flesh. She heard a roar of pain, a dragon's roar. She felt the grip around her shoulder loosen, and then disappear all together. Most of all, she felt the spray of hot blood.

The ground rushed up towards her, but she managed to fall into a controlled roll that nonetheless cause her to groan in pain as her cracked rib was jostled. She was up in a flash though, turning towards the dragon who had pulled her away from her brother, the dragon who dared come between the ultimate warrior and her pre-

Astrid gasped in horror.

It was Stormfly.

The blue nadder lay on her side, blood pooling in the snow around her, her breaths ragged with pain. Astrid saw vividly the massive cut on her wing, a cut that should have made her unable to fly from the sheer agony of it, but Astrid also say the new wound on her dragon's belly. Though not life-threatening in and of itself, blood loss could eventually make it fatal, and the fact that it was even there broke Astrid's heart.

Because she had done it. She had let the Valkyrie have her way, and it had finally done what she most feared it would.

It had hurt someone she loved.

"St-Stormfly" Astrid said tentatively, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice. Tears were starting to blur Astrid's vision, but she tried her best to not choke on her words.

Stormfly did not respond, other than to continue writhing in the snow, trying futilely to ease her agony.

"Stormfly… it…its going to be ok, girl"

Astrid took a step forward.

Now Stormfly noticed. Her head swiveled and eyes locked firmly on Astrid, pupils narrowed to slits.

Astrid took another step.

Stormfly…_growled_. It was a sound that Astrid had heard before, though never directed at herself. It was low, resonating, and undeniably threatening.

"Stormfly?" Astrid repeated, this time with more than a little bit of fear. She slowly, she reached her hand out to Stormfly's snout, as she had done hundreds of times before.

Stormfly's responded by placing her tail in Astrid's path, spikes extended. Her growling grew louder.

Now Astrid was backpedaling, but not from Stormfly's threats. No, what made Astrid back away was what she saw in her dragons eyes at that awful moment. In those bright yellow eyes reflected fear.

Fear.

Stormfly, for the first time in her life, was afraid of Astrid.

Through Astrid, the Valkyrie had lashed out in anger when Erik had once again been spared, and the only target had been Stormfly. In that assault, Astrid had betrayed the trust of her truest friend, had smashed apart a delicate creation over a decade in the making.

How Astrid wished with all her heart that she could take back those actions.

"Stormfly, I promise I won't hurt you. Please…"

But her dragon would here none of it. Lifting herself to her feet, Stormfly spread her wings wide, and with a roar of anguish, shot into the air, now flying even more hazardously that before, for now she carried two serious wounds.

One from an enemy. One from a friend.

"Stormfly wait!" Astrid called, throwing her hands up into the air as her dragon disappeared among the caves many stalactites, vanishing so fast she would have left people wondering if she had ever really been there.

But for confirmation, all one needed to do was look at the blood on Astrid's hands, on her spear, and in the snow around her.

She was numb all over. Vaguely, she was aware of someone calling her name. Arms wrapped around her, not to restrain her but to soothe her. A voice whispered in her ear, telling her that it would be all right, that everything would be ok. A pair of hands supported her, guided her onto the back of a dragon, a different dragon, and they were soon flying, leaving that awful place behind.

Through it all, Astrid repeated something in her mind, a single series of three words. Simply words, whispered brokenly, but consistently, as if just by saying them enough times everything would be made right.

"Stormfly…I'm sorry…"

Those words were accompanied by streams of tears.

* * *

**Things always seem to go from bad to worse. Don't worry, there will be a happy ending to this story. But there are some bumps in the road to get through first.**

** Well, I finish up exams next week, so that won't be an issue soon. However, I might just take a few days off of everything as I watch the new Riders of Berk Race the the Edge episodes... over and over and over again. Lol, just kidding, but I'm seriously super excited!**

** Review, follow, favorite, and as always, have a good one!**


	32. Act 3: We Prepare For Conquest

**As always, the chapter is up later than I would have liked. Of course, this time, I have a valid excuse. And that excuse is named RACE TO THE EDGE! I've only watched the first few episodes of it, but I already love it even more than either Riders or Defenders. If you are reading this, and you have not watched any of the episodes, GO SEE THEM RIGHT NOW!**

** Anyways, on with the story.**

* * *

"You let her escape!"

Erik had to fight himself not to flinch in the face of Drago's anger, though the others around him cowered in the face of his wrath. They stood in a row, all dozen of them, the witnesses to the Valkyrie's escape the day before.

The ones who had been unable to stop that escape.

Drago shoved his face right up to Erik's, expression on of sheer, twisted brutality. He spat into Erik's face.

"You, most have all, have failed. Did I not give you what you needed to fight the girl? Did you not tell me that when next you two me in battle, that you would be undeniably the victor? Yet when she came, you were taken down, along with everyone of the men that was with you. _You. Have. Failed."_

"So" Drago continued "Give me one reason I should not kill you. Right here. Right now"

Silence came over the entire ship upon which the makeshift trial happened. Erik felt the dozens upon dozens of eyes upon him, men eagerly waiting for Drago to give the signal to execute him and his comrades.

"Well" Erik said. "That depends on whether or not you think you can still beat the Valkyrie without me."

Mutterings erupted among the men, and Drago's eyes narrowed.

"I had her beaten" Erik went on confidently. "You have no one else who can beat her in a fair fight in your entire army. She-"

"A fair fight!" Drago snarled "Ha! I never asked for anyone to beat her in a fair fight, you fool. I asked for her to be beaten. You claim you can defeat her, but only with your pathetic sense of honor and fair play protecting you."

Drago laughed, and his men around him joined in. But Erik was unamused.

"But I can beat her, and that is more than any of your other men can claim. More than you yourself could say."

The arrogance and boldness of that statement lifted many, many eyebrows, and everyone on the ship held a collective breath, expecting Drago to tear the head of the insolent youth's shoulders.

But Erik simply continued, seeming to gain even more confidence with every word.

"You may have had your alchemists… enhance me, but even with those enhancements, I am the only one who is already skilled enough to even come close to defeating her. With the enhanced speed and strength they have given me, I now can. And, you have nothing to lose by keeping me alive?"

Erik hated the fact that he sounded like he was begging, but he really had no other choice. It was now or never, and while the thought of dying didn't much bother him, the thought of leaving behind unfinished business left a sour taste in his mouth.

If begging would give him another shot at Astrid, then beg he would.

Again, everyone collectively held in their breaths, waiting in a mixture of anticipation and fear.

As always, Drago's dark eyes were completely opaque, giving away nothing at what lay behind them. Erik matched that iron gaze, starting into those soulless black orbs for a good minute and a half with no change, no blinking, no shifting.

And then just as suddenly, the silent contest was over as Drago let out a more than a little insane chuckle. Dropping his voice low enough so that only Erik could here, Drago whispered.

"Are much like your sister. Full of fire. Very well. You'll get your one last chance."

Erik stifled his sigh of relief, not wanting to give Drago the pleasure of seeing how much he had been shaken. With a snort, Drago turned and walked away, much to the surprise of the surrounding men.

No one, not even Erik, heard Drago's last words as he departed.

"Yes, you'll get your chance… We might as well use you up while you are still alive. "

Of all the places in Drago's fleet, this was the one that he visited the least. Stationed on a ship separate from the main flagship, it stood out as somewhat of an oddity among the many vicious looking war boats. While Drago would argue that all of his ships should be outfitted equally for battle, this one was different.

This was the ship where Drago's chief alchemist resided.

Below deck, single room of the tiny ship could have been mistaken for a healers hut. Salves, books, and beakers sat upon rows and rows of shelves, along with dozens and dozens of herb-filled-vials, each on a different size than the last. On the far edge of the room, seated at a worn wooden desk illuminated by a tiny candle, was a man Drago thoroughly detested.

Agrus Fribson.

Of all the people in the world, Drago hated most those who had power, but had not the strength or will to match it. Yet Agrus, a weak and scheming old man, held power not from his strength of will or strength of arm, but because he had knowledge. He had been trained as a healer, but Drago had wanted more than that for someone to join with him. Agrus's medicines did not just ease hurts and cure coughs. No, for several years now, Drago had ordered the man to work on drugs and potions designed to enhance strength, increase speed, and sharpen a person's focus.

The man had succeeded. To an extent.

"Alchemist" Drago boomed, and he took pleasure in the fact that the old man jumped out of his chair at the sound us Drago's voice. The man's head snapped around, his wild white beard wagging, looking as he always did. A little bit afraid, a little bit suspicious, and with a greedy glint in his eye.

"Oh, yes, Drago sir. What can I do for you?" Agrus asked rubbing his hands together nervously. He lived in constant fear that one day Drago would have no more use for him, and that day, Drago would kill him. Not an unrealistic expectation, as Drago had had many replacement alchemists.

Drago, never one to beat around the bush, went straight to the heart of the matter.

"The boy is not yet strong enough. He needs more."

Agrus's eyes widened considerably.

"B-but sir, the potions I have given him have already shortened his life-span down to months as it is. If he is given any more, he won't last two wee-"

"I. Don't. Care" Drago interrupted. "By the time the solution has killed him, he will already outlived his usefulness to us. I plan to move on the Dragon's nest within the week, and he is to ensure that no Dragon Rider slips through our fingers. So give him more of the solution. I want him to match whatever they can throw at us."

Truly, Drago was not happy about giving up such a valuable asset as Erik, though he knew that the boy was quickly becoming uncontrollable. Madness was setting in, and that made Erik unpredictable. Once the nest was destroyed, along with the target of his hatred, Erik might well try and take command of the army from Drago.

So Drago had come up with the perfect solution. Give him the strength and speed to defeat his most hated enemy, while simultaneously feeding him what was practically poison.

Of course, Drago had left that little bit out when he told the boy about it.

"See to it that it is done. Today, before preparations begin for the attack. I-"

"Drago!" A voice called from above, and the sound of feet coming down the wooden staircase sounded as one of his soldiers came below. Drago had to restrain himself from lashing out at the man for interrupting him.

"What is is!?" Drago spat, his tone clearly stating his impatience.

"Sir" The man said "One of the dragons is out of control, and we need your help it contain it before it causes any more damage"

Drago grunted in annoyance. Did they need him to keep control of every dragon? He was a feared warlord, not some dragon shepherd that had to step in every time one of his incompetent underlings failed in their duty. Drago indeed knew the power that came with forcing others to serve him, but he was sometimes astounded by his minion's lack ability.

Like many times before, Drago would have to take care of the problem himself.

If Drago hadn't been so irritated, Drago might have been amused at the dragons show of spirit. Back against one of the walls of the vast cavern, it none-the-less fought valiantly against the tide of trappers that sought to ensnare it. Roaring in fury and pain, it lashed out with its tail, sending dozens of needle sharp spines whistling through the air, dropping half a dozen of its assailants to the ground, screaming and writhing as the poison took swift effect.

But the odds were against the Nadder- for indeed, as Drago moved in he saw that it was indeed a nadder that was causing so much trouble, a sleek blue one. Already it seemed to be tiring, and its right wing was pinned up at its side, as if wounded.

Even as Drago approached, one of the men tried to leap on the Nadder's head and pin its jaws closed, but it shook him off, and then sent a blast of fire after him for good measure. All of the other men backed off.

Drago was growing increasingly annoyed. By all rights, the dragon was defeated, surrounded, cut off, and unable to fly. Yet his men, cowards one and all, didn't want to be the ones to have to take the brunt of whatever fight left this dragon had.

In short, his men were afraid.

But then, it provided a perfect chance for Drago to display his superiority to his men.

He strode boldly through the circle surrounding the dragon, not even bothering to grab a weapon as he confronted the lone nadder . The dragon's eyes locked with his, and its pupils narrowed with interest and hate. It suddenly snapped it's tail, and a single spine cracked through the air, aimed directly for Drago's heart.

Drago saw that coming though, and shifted just in time so that instead of impaling his heart, the spine struck him in the left arm. Even that would have been a danger to most men because of the fact that nadder spines are extremely venomous.

But Drago's left arm no longer existed, and had been replaced by a metal prosthetic. No matter how much poison got into that, it wouldn't harm Drago in the slightest.

The dragon was apparently surprised when its attack didn't even slow Drago. It opened its mouth to launch a blast of fire that would have disintegrated him in a heartbeat, but Drago was slightly faster. He threw himself at the nadder's head, grabbing onto the horn on its nose and twisting its head around till its head was at an utterly in appropriate angle to the rest of its body.

And with that, the fight was over. Had he wished it, Drago could have snapped the dragon's neck then and there, simply by letting his weight fall forward. The added weight would be more than enough to finish the job. The dragon did continue to struggle, but it could hardly move as it was, with Drago holding it in a brutal lock.

But Drago was not one for waste, and why kill when one can recruit.

"Submit" Drago growled into the dragons ear, accenting the point it a sharp twist. While he indeed was not one to waste, Drago was in a particularly violent mood, and this dragon wouldn't be of much use as it was, because of its injuries. If it didn't submit immediately, Drago decided, he would make an example of it.

It did not submit. Futile as it was, the dragon continued to struggle.

Drago growled, then started to twist.

"Stop!"

If Drago hadn't been busy keeping the dragon down, he would have killed the owner of that voice then and there. It was a voice he had long grown tired of, one that had defied him so many times before. One that he would soon silence forever.

Erik's voice.

The boy came running through the crowd to stand before Drago and the nadder, ignoring the murderous look that Drago shot him.

"Stop. You don't understand. That dragon can be more useful to us than any other in the army."

"And how is that" Drago growled. He had not loosened his grip in the slightest, and was rewarded when the nadder let out a whimper of pain.

"That is the Valkyrie's dragon" Erik said. "I know because I gave her that cut on her wing."

Silence. Dead silence. Many eyes shifted to get a glance at the wing that Erik was talking about, and Drago himself felt some of his anger drain away, replaced by more than a little confusion. If this was the Valkyrie's dragon, where was it's- her, as Erik had called it- rider?

"If it is as you say, boy, then we will use it to our advantage."

With that, the men came forward, binding the nadder's legs, wings, tail, and jaw. It struggled, but y then it seemed as if all its energy had simply drained away. By the time they were finished, she could hardly move at all, and she was not able to fight back as they dragged her to the edge of the water, where Drago and Erik stood side by side.

"This will be your mount, boy. I will see her wounds treated, and within the week, you will use her to crush the Valkyrie" Drago growled.

"She will never accept me as a rider" Erik argued "She only obeys my sister."

Drago gave him a perfectly awful grin that made all the spines of all the men around him prickle, including Erik's

"Let's find out"

Drago let out a wordless scream as he turned toward the water, swinging a bullhook over his head in a circle, once, twice, thrice.

Beneath the water, something colossal stirred.

Unable to struggle or fight back, Stormfly could only watch in mute horror.

"I am going to break the Valkyrie once and for all" Drago said, turinging to face Stormfly directly as the water heaved "and you are going to help me"

* * *

**Coming down the home stretch for this story, so hang on to your hats folks. **

** Anyways, as we all know, Race to the Edge is finally here, but for the sake of those who have not seen all the episodes yet (myself included) please DO NOT PUT ANY SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS.**

** Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one.**


	33. Act 3: Our Identity and Our Choices

** Hello, folks. Summer holidays are finally here! Bad news? Working for the summer. Bleeh. Oh well, it could be worse, right? Still going to try and update regularly as possible, and I am pretty sure I can finish this story up within a few weeks, at which point I can move onto Riders of the Archipelago, which I know you have all been eagerly awaiting. Patience, for it will come. **

** Now, without further ado, lets get on with the chapter!**

* * *

She sat as if rooted there, still as a statue, hardly even seeming to breath. Within her room at the back at the Dragon's Nest, Astrid Hofferson silently brooded. Occasionally, there would be the sound of someone calling out a question from outside the cave that was her private room, but they got not even the slightest response. And even if they came in, Astrid would not acknowledge their presence, for her gaze was fixed squarely on the object which rested upon her lap.

A mask.

Her mask.

A simple piece of her Valkyrie armor, but to Astrid, it represented so much more than that. For of all the things her enemies remembered. While it only covered the top half of her face, the hooked now, frilled top, and deep blue coloration made it more than stand out. It was a terrifying face to look at, not so much for its appearance, but for what it meant.

It was the face of the Valkyrie.

So she stared into the empty eyeholes of that mask, almost as if she were expecting to see something in those eye, some flicker, some sign of humanity.

But the eyes of the Valkyrie, like those of the mask, were empty eyes.

"What are you?" Astrid asked under her breath, speaking to no one. Speaking to something that was a part of her, yet, completely alien.

Speaking to the part of her that struck at her best friend.

She might have cried then, if not for the fact that she had spent all of her tears over the past few days. She felt drained of all tears, drained of her ability to register sadness and anger. Now, all she felt was resignation

And self-pity.

The eyes of the mask reflected none of those things. They were cold.

She wasn't keeping any track of time. It could have been hours later or just minutes till she heard a sound. A sound of footsteps, growing louder and louder as they approached her.

"Astrid?"

Oh gods. It was _him. _

Hiccup.

While Astrid had been avoiding pretty much everyone for the past few days, she made sure to avoid Hiccup particularly. In fact, more so than the others, she went out of her way to avoid any kind of contact with him. Initially, when she had returned with Valka and Blade, sobbing in her adopted mothers arms, he had come running to her, initially relieved to see that she was ok, and then surprised and more than a little hurt when she had run off to be alone.

And for the next five days, she had been alone. Taking meals by herself, going to sleep without so much as a word of 'good-night'

And yet, at the same time, she was never alone. The Valkyrie haunted her every waking moment… and in her dreams.

"Astrid?" The call came again, but she didn't even look up as he rounded the corner into the room. "Astrid, I know you want to be alone, but it has een too long. I need to talk to you."

Astrid replied only with stony silence, still staring down at the mask in her hands.

"Astrid, please. Please talk you me. Everyone is worried about you."

Again, no response came.

She heard the sound of his footsteps coming towards her again, and then nearly jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. His hand.

"Astrid, I _need _to talk to you"

Finally, she looked up at him, staring up into his face, looking deeply into his eyes. Eyes filled with concern, and yes, what one might call love.

But she was not deserving of his love, and she found she could not return it.

"Hiccup, I told you that one day that you didn't truly know me" Astrid said. Her voice sounded raspy and strange to her ears, but she didn't care enough to feel surprise.

"I do know you"

"NO!" Astrid suddenly screamed, and all of her self-loathing she had built up over those past few days came forth with that scream. She saw Hiccup step back in surprise, as if she had struck him, and she immediately felt regret at her word, but pressed on anyway. She needed to hear herself say those words.

"No" she said more softly "You said that you knew me because I am still the same person, that same little girl who lived on Berk all those years ago. But I am not, Hiccup. I have changed. Have I not proven that already? I might have killed my best friend, and I can tell you for certain that the old Astrid would never do that. So I say again_. You. Don't. Know. Me."_

The silence that came after was agonizing. Astrid's head bowed once again, for she already knew what he was going to say. He was going to say that it was not true, and that it was not her fault. That it would be alright, and that he still loved her.

But he said none of those things. Once again, he surprised her.

"No, I suppose I don't know this new you. But" He said, homing to sit beside her "what if we can find that old Astrid again, eh?"

Astrid found herself laughing humorlessly, cruelly.

"I've tried that, Hiccup. That part of me is dead. Or soon to be anyway."

No sooner had she said that than his hand came up and grasped her chin suddenly, even as she tried to turn away from him. She was a bit startled when he turned her to face him, his piercing green eyes boring into hers.

"Don't say that" Hiccup said, more grave than she had ever heard him before. "There is always a chance, no matter how far we fall, to get back up."

It was not so much his words that got through to Astrid at that moment, but the raw intensity and emotion behind them. There was a glimmer in his eye, and Astrid realized a moment later that it was an unshed tear.

And, in that moment, Astrid realized just home much he loved her.

She could see it in his eyes, and his expression, just home much he wanted, no, needed her. Even though they had only been reunited for several days, after so many long years, he claimed he was in love with her.

But how? What could she have to offer him? What was it that she had that no other woman could give hi-

Astrid blinked.

It was simple.

The answer was right in front of her, yet she never saw it.

His love came not from what she could do for him, for in his eyes, she was already doing everything that needed doing.

She was being herself.

And he loved her for that.

He loved her for… _that?_

"Hiccup" Astrid said, and her voice sounded very small to her "Can we talk about… what happened with Stormfly?"

Those green eyes, those understanding, compassionate green eyes, softened, and he nodded.

She told him everything. Everything that had happened since her capture. He had probably gotten the majority of the story from Blade already, but to his credit, he didn't interrupt her as she went on and on.

Most importantly, she told him about Erik, whom she hadn't even told Valka about.

At that Hiccup's eyes went wide with surprise, for he, too, had known Erik, back on Berk before he had disappeared for reasons the Hofferson's had refused to explain.

"I don't know why I find myself hating him so much." Astrid said, speaking of her older brother "But, whenever I see him, my… other half seems to take over. I don't understand it."

"And that is how I lose control" Astrid concluded with a sigh "I have never lost control like that before, and I have never come that close to killing someone."

"Wait" Hiccup said, a curious note in his voice "You've never… killed anyone before?"

Astrid shook her head.

"No. I mean, I've always been able to get away with just wounding people or threatening them. But I've never 'directly' killed anyone. And I've only ever seen Valka have to kill people once, and she certainly doesn't like it."

A pause, a bit of silence.

"Astrid" Hiccup said as he pulled something small and circular out of one of his poaches "I think I might know why the Valkyrie hates Erik. Look at this."

She held out her hands, and Hiccup gave her the object in question. At first, it seemed only to be a flat wooden disk, but as she turned it over, Astrid let out a slight gasp.

For, on the others side, Astrid could see it was a small, handheld mirror, and she was looking back at an image of herself.

It was somewhat unnerving, to say the least. Astrid had most definitely seen her reflection before, only through imperfect images on water, or a cracked ice sheet. Never had she seen it in such detail.

_Is this truly what I look like? _

The girl that looked back at her through that mirror seemed almost like a stranger. The smooth, pale skin of her race seemed almost delicate, belaying the years of hardship and living out in the wilds. Her hair, which she had not braided that day, spread out like a golden halo around her head. But what was most noticeable, and most terrifying, was her eyes.

Blue in the centers, with red veins running across the whites from her constant crying, those eyes were very, very intense.

"What do you see Astrid" Hiccup asked.

"Um… I see myself" Astrid replied, still not understanding what Hiccup was getting at.

"Right" he replied "And what does the Valkyrie see in her reflection?"

Astrid began to answer the same way, but then thought for a moment. Obviously, Hiccup was trying to get at something that was not so obvious.

"She sees… She sees…"

Her widened.

"She sees Erik in her reflection. And she doesn't like that"

"And she is trying to deny that by trying to destroy him." Hiccup finished for her.

Once again, there was long silence as each of them fought to digest and absorb that particularly nasty bit of information. For Astrid particularly, it was vicious. Not only did she now fully understand why the Valkyrie wanted Erik dead, but she found it more than a little disturbing that her other half thought she was… becoming him.

In the surface, it seemed perfectly ridiculous. They were on opposite sides of a single conflict, rider versus trapper, a deadly duel in which only one would emerge alive. Mortal enemies, yet, apparently, both were more alike than either cared to admit.

They were both becoming more ruthless, more vicious, and more bloodthirsty.

"What does that mean?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup lifted an arm, and placed it around Astrid's shoulder, a gestured that was very comforting. He pulled her closer to him until their shoulders were touching.

"It doesn't mean anything, Astrid" Hiccup said quietly. "Because we are who we choose to be. And for the sake of both Erik and Stormfly, I think the Valkyrie needs to go."

"Is it that simple?"

"That depends"

"Depends on what?"

"On how much is at stake. And on how much you are willing to give up for it."

Astrid closed her eyes at that, taking several deep bracing breaths.

"I want to be Astrid, without the Valkyrie. But I don't know if I can do that alone" she stared straight into Hiccup's eyes, wanting him to feel the gravity of her next statement.

"Will you help me be her."

"Of course."

* * *

Hiccup had wanted to go out to the others, but Astrid had stubbornly refused. She wasn't quite ready to go out and face everybody just yet. She had wanted time to think everything through, to absorb it all.

But mostly, she wanted time alone with him. It helped take the sting out of the memories of Stormfly. Only a little bit, for he could not replace what Astrid had lost. But it helped.

And so, within an hour's time, she lay with his arms around her, leaning against his chest, fast asleep.

Hiccup could hardly believe how much he loved her.

On one level, she was undeniably pretty in a purely physical sense. Her shining golden hair, her slim, well-toned form, her gorgeous blue eyes that Hiccup could lose himself in for hours at a time (given the chance)

But it was one thing to say a woman was pretty, and another entirely to say she was truly beautiful.

In his travels over the last five years, Hiccup had seen many, many places. He had seen many things, some of which he had wished he could forget, some of which he held tightly in his memories. But before all of that, on that fateful day when he had made the decision to leave Berk, he had asked himself if there had been anything in his life so far worth remembering. Anything that he should hold onto, lest it vanish like morning mist on a summer day.

And though he had not seen her since he was nine years old, Hiccup had, in that moment, remembered Astrid.

Astrid Hofferson. The toughest kid of their generation. The girl who he had believed gone when he was no more than kid, and now here she was.

She was the one who used to smile shyly at him from across the tables in the great hall.

She was the one who never called him a name.

And, she had once stood up to her own brother when Hiccup had accidently broke her brother's axe.

Her brother Erik's axe.

He still saw all of that there over the days he had recently spent with her. The same courage, the same dedication, the same desire to fight for whatever she believed in, all tempered by an exquisite gentleness and kindness, rarely shown, yet never far from the surface.

That was what made Astrid beautiful. Once a beautiful girl, now grown into a beautiful woman.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, Astrid shifted in her sleep, muttering something intelligible as she moved to a more comfortable position. Hiccup, on his part, tried to stay as still as possible, and by the time she settled again, her head was nestled against his shoulder. Once more, she was still, content.

His lips started to stretch into a grin as he simply basked in her sweet presence, but that grin quickly soured as he considered the implications of her moment of vulnerability. For, despite his earlier words of reassurance to her earlier, he had no idea if she would revert back to the Valkyrie the next time they saw battle. After all, he had tried to comfort her once before, in the time before the raid on Drago's hideout, and that had done nothing to deter the Valkyrie. If anything, it seemed as if the Valkyrie come forth stronger than ever before.

_That's how it is then, _Hiccup thought as he bent down to kiss the top of her head_, whatever she must face she won't face it alone. _

"Thinking deep thoughts are we?"

For some reason, Hiccup wasn't even surprised.

The voice belonged to Blade.

Given the fact that Hiccup had his back to the passageway leading out, it was no great secret how Blade had managed to sneak in without notice. Hiccup didn't even turn his head to look at the other boy, but he did pull his arms a bit tighter around Astrid, a bit protectively.

Astrid did not stir at the voice.

"What do you want, Blade?" Hiccup said between clenched teeth. "Come to criticize me and tell me about what an idiot I was in falling in love with a so called murderess. Well, save it, because she is not who you think she is, and I can't help my love for her."

A slight pause, and then a sigh of what sounded like profound exasperation came from behind him.

"Hiccup" Blade's voice was rough, but quiet, seeming as if he actually didn't want to disturb the resting Astrid "I didn't come here to restart old arguments with you."

"Then why are you here Blade?" Hiccup replied angrily "If you've come to say something to Astrid, then leave, because she doesn't need it now. She just lost her best friend-maybe forever."

Hiccup was dearly glad that Astrid was not awake to hear him say those words.

But Blade made no move to leave. Instead, he moved deeper into the room, skirting around where Astrid and Hiccup snuggled on Astrid's bed until he was facing Hiccup directly. He then sat down upon the cold stone floor, cross-legged.

"I won't beat around the bush, Hiccup. This conversation has been postponed too long."

Blade took a deep breath as he closed his eyes, as if deep in thought.

"Because of Astrid, my entire tribe is dead."

The bluntness of that statement definitely set Hiccup back on his heels, and he had to consciously stop himself from gasping aloud. He tried to from some kind of meaningful reply, but he only sputtered like a landed fish in complete astonishment.

"You… she… she wouldn't do that. No matter what you say, she is not a killer."

"I never said she was a killer" Blade replied calmly "Only that my tribe is dead because of her."

"How?" was the only thing Hiccup could say to that. He was trying to keep his voice quiet as possible, but he felt Astrid stir against him again. He wanted to move the conversation somewhere else where he wouldn't disturb her rest, but he figured that trying to get himself untangled form her would be more likely to wake her than speaking quietly over her head.

It surprised him that Blade kept his voice equally quiet.

"It all started about four years ago, back when I still lived with my tribe. As you know, we were not the most peaceful of people. In our tribe, our standing and prestige has to do with your skill in battle."

"And so, when we started hearing rumors of a woman living in the wilds, the undefeatable warrior, my tribe proclaimed her a hero sent by the gods."

"A hero?" Hiccup asked, his voice tinted with curiosity.

"A hero" Blade confirmed. "Dragon Rider or not, the rumors told us that she embodied everything we respected. Many of the men went out in search for her, with varying reasons. Some wished only to catch a glimpse of her. Some wished to speak with her. Others still sought to gain her hand in marriage. But all of their quests were the same, in that none could find her."

"On and on, they chased the rumors of her appearances, but always they would arrive to find her long gone. Of course, they never stopped trying, and... that was when we drew the attention of some unsavory folk."

"You see, at the time, there was a warlord also hunting for Astrid, a man named Nar Garbor the wicked. When he learned of my own tribes… infatuation, with the Valkyrie, he decided to take it out on a less elusive target."

"He gathered his armada, and set sail for our island, but the day before he would have laid siege to us, she came."

"Astrid?"

"Yes" Blade continued. "One of our spies saw the whole thing. She managed to get past his guards and corner Nar Garbor on his flagship, where they fought against one another. She beat him, and easily, so I heard. But she held back on the killing blow, instead threatening Nar Garbor, telling him to leave, disband his army, and never return to the Archipelago again. That, or be killed."

"And so, he called off his fleet, and our tribe praised the Valkyrie more than ever. Any doubt about her before had been swept away that day. And our chief, my father, now organized the searches for her personally. But again, she was too elusive for us to find."

"And by then, as you know, it was time for my right of passage, when I met Shade, which you already know. But when I returned, I came upon a village that had been reduced to ash. Nar Garbor had destroyed it, and this time, the Valkyrie had not been there to save the village."

The silence between them was deafening, with Hiccup staring at Blade as if he were a total stranger.

"Why did you never tell me this before." Hiccup asked. "And… how was your village being destroyed Astrid's fault? It is not her duty to protect every tribe in the Archipelago."

Blade's head drooped and his shoulders sagged, looking drained, as if the giving of the information took a lot out of him.

"I didn't tell you before because you didn't need to know. It was my burden to bear or share as I willed. And as for it being her fault… well, let's just say that she had a choice. She chose to spare an enemy, and for that, hundreds died."

When Blade looked up at Hiccup again, his eyes were flat and cold.

"She chose to make the easier design, in a moral sense. None of us got to make that choice. And that, Hiccup, is why Astrid earned my ire."

* * *

**I wanted to add more to this chapter at first, but it ended up being so much longer than my usual chapters that I just ended it right there. So there you go. More of Blade's backstory. **

** I can promise you guys that there will be a big surprise next chapter. **

** Review, follow, favorite, and as always, have a good one!**


	34. Act 3: The Fear of Love

**Back again. That is all I have to say. **

** Enjoy.**

* * *

Dozens upon dozens they came.

An entire fleet of ships, moving with a singularity of purpose and intent, glided over the water. They moved in a gigantic wedge shape, with the largest and meanest looking of the ships-the flagship- at the point.

On board those ships stood many, many men. Grim-faced, clutching weapons of every description, kept their eyes facing forward, trying to pierce the cloud of mist in which they were sailing through. Their stances were eager, nervous, and full of anticipation.

These men were ready to charge at any moment.

For hours upon hours they sailed, though the tension hardly drained at all in that time, for the men had been waiting for an opportunity such as this for years. For their goal was to destroy the dragons nest once and for all.

Whatever it took.

Their ships came on relentlessly, tearing through thin ice sheets that blocked their path, or maneuvering around those that were too thick to bowl through. The path which they took was a veritable wasteland of ice, though it was far too treacherous for even the lightest of Vikings to walk across, for one wrong step could leave a man floundering in the water, their limbs freezing until they could no longer escape the cold clutches of the hungry sea.

And so they sailed on.

And on.

And on.

They passed under icy archways, and through tunnels carved in icebergs. More than once, there was the sound of a watchman shouting out that he saw movement, but as the men turned, there was nothing to indicate any living thing had been there.

And then, so very suddenly, they arrived.

The lead ship emerged from the last tunnel to behold the gigantic dragons nest, a fortress of stone augmented with colossal spikes of ice that reached for the heavens, each dozens of feet long. From that distance, it was surely a sight of awe and marvel, but as the boats grew closer, the structure began to grow less magnificent and more eerie.

For not a sound emitted from the nest. And not a movement could be seen.

But one man, the leader of all who came to fight today, was confident that this was the place. He stood at the vanguard, a leader by example and not by words. He was the first in line to fight, the first to stare his foes in the face.

The first to set foot on the island.

"We're here." He said as he leapt of his ship, heavy boots crunching the ice as they connected with the ground.

"They're here."

Those words, spoken by Valka, were all that were needed to send the dragon riders into a frenzy of activity. Almost a week had passed since Astrid's fateful return from Drago's hideout, and all the riders had been preparing to get news of the trappers ships on the horizon since then.

For the first time since Valka had started living in the nest, some twenty years ago, the dragons braced for all-out war.

The riders had made as much use of that time that they could, not knowing exactly how long they had before Drago would come knocking. Hatchlings too young to fight, as well as some of the older dragons, were escorted to other nearby islands or outcroppings, places where they could hide when the fight began. Eggs were ferried to those same islands, though they were even more carefully hidden, with only the riders and the parents of said eggs knowing the exact location of each batch.

With all the none-combatants out of the way, the nest itself was ready to be fortified. Rising from his customary pool in the center of the sanctuary, the Alpha breathed out more layers of ice upon the already existing ones, thickening them until they were sure nothing in Drago's armada could break through. The Alpha also sealed some of the less defensible passageway into the nest, leaving only two exits, both of which would only reachable by flight.

For Valka, it was a sobering sight. Whatever happened when Drago's forces came, she knew that life at the sanctuary would never be the same. Lives would be lost. Things that had taken years to build would by destroyed within hours, if not minutes. And she doubted that the same sense of peace and tranquility that she had experienced for the past twenty years would survive when this place became painted with blood.

And also, she might die.

Hiccup might die.

Astrid might die.

Valka had sighed at that thought.

Astrid.

For the first several days since she had gotten back, the girl had not left her room, and every attempt Valka had made to comfort her had been met with only stony silence. Had she been given more time, Valka would have pressed harder, but the impending invasion meant that she was forced to prepare and protect the lives entrusted to her. Unfortunately, that left her with little time to worry over Astrid.

Even if the girl was like a daughter to her.

After several days, Valka had convinced her son to try to snap Astrid out of her misery where she had failed, and to her surprise (though genuine relief), it seemed to have worked, for Astrid had emerged from her solitude later that same day.

But since then, the talk between Valka and her adopted daughter had been scarce. They only spoke when Astrid came to Valka with questions of how she could help fortify the nest, and Valka responded back curtly. Astrid would then leave to perform that task to the best of her ability.

Though without Stormfly, those tasks were considerably more difficult than they might have been.

How badly Valka wished to speak with Astrid, share more than passing words. Given that either or both of them could be killed in the coming battle, Valka wanted to reassure Astrid of… of what?

Of how much the girl meant to her. Of how much Valka loved her.

And how sorry she was for everything Astrid had been forced to go through.

She had been on her way to speak to Astrid about that, for she had resolved that the time she would spend in that one last conversation would bring her more peace of mind than few more minutes of fortifying.

But then, one of the sentinel dragons had come to her, squawking in alarm, and Valka knew she had missed her chance.

Their battle had arrived.

They each sat upon their dragons, save Astrid, who rode with Valka upon Cloudjumper's back. Hiccup had offered to have her on Toothless, but Valka had pointed out that Cloudjumper was stronger and larger, meaning he would be less inhibited by the extra weight.

And so they waited, their various dragons hidden among the spines of ice that decorated the nest, waiting for the signal to strike.

But Valka hesitated.

For the ships that suddenly approached…

"Those are not Drago's ships." She said, speaking mostly to herself, her voice laced with confusion.

They were too far away to make out many individual features, but the ships were most definitely a light brown color, as opposed to the normal dark brown or black of Drago's trapper ships. Men had began cautiously making their way out onto the shore, and none of them wore the wolf-skin cloaks Valka would have expected to see.

So, either these men were completely independent from Drago, or he had sent ahead some friends to reduce the losses in his own ranks.

"Who are they" Valka heard Mira call out, though she kept her voice low enough so as not to create an echo.

"It doesn't matter" Valka replied. "Whoever they are, they look as though they have come here for battle. If we have to fight them, _and then _deal with Drago, we won't survive."

Valka looked over her shoulder.

"Astrid, go with the other riders, and round up all the dragons in the nest, and take them off the island. We have to abandon it."

"Wait" Astrid exclaimed "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to buy us some time. Now go with Hiccup." Valka replied.

"Buy some time? You can't fight that many-"

"I don't plan to fight them, Astrid. Now go"

"But-"

"Go. Please Astrid."

"You sure this is the place?"

Stoick sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, for Gobber had pestered him with the same question many, many times, a like number of times. Each time, the answer was the same.

The word of a Hofferson could be trusted.

Indeed, the miraculous return of Erik Hofferson to the village had brought much rejoicing, not for his parents, who had thought they might never see any of their children again. Then, not three days back, Erik had suddenly returned, sailing in a longboat with only a couple of other grim-faced crewmen.

Not much was known about what exactly Erik had been doing over the past several years, and the boy said little of his travels, though when pressed, he said he had spent his years looking for the dragon's nest for which the Vikings of Berk had looked long and hard to find.

It turned out, according to Erik, that they had been looking in the wrong place.

When Erik finally revealed to Stoick (in private) that he had an idea of where the dreaded nest might be, the Hooligan chief had rounded up every warrior on the island, telling them that the location of the nest had been discerned, and that location had been given to them by a trusted friend.

For a Hofferson could be trusted, right?

Now that boy stood shoulder to shoulder with Stoick as they looked up… and up… and up! For the nest could be described as nothing short of colossal, rising up into the sky higher than Berk's highest peak. Snow covered nearly every exposed surface, giving the scene a surrealistic appearance.

For the first several minutes, there was not a dragon to be seen.

But that soon changed.

The process of unloading and setting up the catapults was interrupted by cried of 'dragon!', and suddenly hundreds of eyes turned to orient on the sky, searching for something to strike out at.

But there was only a single dragon. And standing tall on it's back was a human.

This couldn't be, yet to Valka, it all made a sickening amount of sense. After all, to Drago's thinking, why attack one enemy when he could simply get two to fight each other and sweep away the survivors after words? For indeed, while the Sanctuary was the island most likely to oppose Drago's theoretical rule, Berk was definitely one of the tribes that might prove to be more than a small inconvenience.

But by using Erik, a former inhabitant of Berk, as his mouth piece, Drago had given away the location of the supposed Dragon's Nest, and now set two of his enemies up to crush each other.

Knowing it would hurt Astrid to fight them was just an added bonus for Drago.

But he had not anticipated how much it could hurt Valka.

She hovered on Cloudjumper's back, high enough to be out of reach of the Berkian ranged weapons, her eyes sweeping over the crowd. She saw many familiar faces, faces that she had all but forgotten, but had now surfaced on account of this most unlikely event. There was Gunnar, Finn, Agnar, Magnus, Gobber…

…her breathing stopped for a moment.

Stoick.

Though he stared up at her, just as everyone else was doing, she knew he would not recognize her. Her armor and helmet proved to be a more than sufficient disguise, and Valka doubted many of the men down there even cared about seeing her face.

To them, her mask was her face. The face of a traitor.

"Come down, Dragon Rider! Unless you are a coward who would rather watch your home burn while you do nothing!"

Valka tensed. That was Stoick's voice, exactly as she remembered it, though she never remembered that particular tone ever being directed at her. She could pick him out in the crowd, taller and stockier than almost anyone in the village, his face twisted into a scowl beneath his enormous red beard.

"Cloudjumper, get me down there." She said quietly.

Cloudjumper's head swiveled completely around to face her, with an expression, which, on a human face, would only be described as pure incredulity.

"Just do it, boy. Not too close to them, but not too far away."

And so they descended to the shore, between the main structure of the nest and the mass of battle-ready Vikings. Cloudjumper touched down about a good hundred feet from the closest one, then nimbly jumped down from Cloudjumper's back.

"Come forth then, Stoick, and speak with me face to face!" Valka called. She intentionally made her voice as rough and grinding as possible, so as to make sure no one would recognize it, however unlikely that would be after twenty years.

But _he_ would recognize it, if she wasn't careful. Of that, Valka was certain.

The crowds parted for him as he strode through, puffing his chest out with pride. He came alone, moving in far closer than any of the other Vikings dared, until only ten feet of open space separated him from her.

A long, deafening silence passed between them. They both stared…

…And waited, daring the other to make the first move.

For, Valka, it was pure torment, seeing those eyes glare at her with such hate, eyes that had once been filled with love for her. A part of her wanted to badly to tear of her mask, to run into his warm, bearish embrace, to have what had once been…

But that was a false hope, and a childish one at that, Valka told herself. To find out that the infamous Dragon rider was not only a former Berkian, but the Chief's own wife, would hurt him unbearably, something Valka had no desire to do. Not only that, but there was a very real possibility that revealing her identity would _not _turn away the invasion, instead only feeding the flames of anger that her husband and the others of the village felt for her.

For, as of now, their hate and hurt was less personal

She repeated these words over and over in her mind, waring herself over and over again to not reveal herself, to not take off her mask.

No matter what…

It was Stoick who first broke the silence between them.

"I'll only make this offer once, Dragon Rider" He said, his voice rumbling like an avalanche. "Take your dragons and move far, far away from my island. If you refuse, we will force you out. Make your choice."

There was no note of compromise in his voice, and Valka knew that Stoick was not one to make idle threats.

Valka took a deep breath.

"I do not wish to fight you." She said quietly, making sure to still disguise her voice.

Stoick's eyes narrowed.

"You should have thought of that before you joined with the dragons that have been stealing our food for the past _three hundred year!"_

"Really?" Valka replied, her voice calm in contrast to Stocik's fury "And have you never tried to find out _why_ they steal food? Have you ever tried to see if there might be a solution that does not involve swords and axe? Have you-"

"_Silence!" _Stoick roared. "You have no right to berate me, Dragon Rider. You have no idea what I have lost to those beasts."

Valka almost blurted out the truth right then, but quickly took several deep breaths, calming herself. She asked herself again, honestly, if revealing her identity would help or harm them, and again, she was met with that stubborn wall of…

…fear?

"Now" Stoick continued, grabbing an axe strapped to his back. "Make your peace, _Dragon Rider. _You-"

"Wait!"

Another voice, this one strident, young and male, resounded from out of the crowd. Many faces turned to watch as an figure made it's way through the crowd. A figure cloaked in black, a curved sword upon his belt and a round shield strapped to his back…

Valka felt more than heard the rumble of Cloudjumper's growl behind her, and she too, had to restrain herself.

There, striding arrogantly through the crowd, was the boy who led the people of Berk to the Sanctuary.

There, striding through the crowd, was Drago's champion.

There was Erik.

Without thinking, Valka clutched at a stone-bladed knife hidden beneath her cloak, and steadied herself. She would probably only get one chance, and then she and Cloudjumper would be on the run for their lives.

But, if she succeeded, one chance would be all she needed.

She counted down the distance between them as he strode forwards, presumably to stand beside Stoick and confront her.

But she wouldn't give him that chance.

Fifty feet.

Fourty.

Thirty.

Twenty

Fifteen.

Just a few more steps and….

* * *

**Coming down to the end here soon. Hope its not too suspenseful for you guys.**

** Just kidding. In my stories, there is ALWAYS an overload of suspense.**

**Anyways, be sure to Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one. **


	35. Act 3: As The Day I Lost You

**Lot of making up this chapter as I went along, going along mostly by feel. Hope it works for you guys. **

** As always, enjoy!**

* * *

… "Odin, forgive me."

Valka drew back her hand and hurled the knife in one smooth motion, even as Erik's latest step finished and his next one began.

Time seemed to slow.

Valka saw the knife spin through the air, precisely two and a half times. She saw Erik's mouth open, as if he were about to say something, and then his eyes widened, seemingly as slowly as ice forming on a pond.

Whatever was he had been about to say died in his throat and he tried to lurch out of the way. But by then, Valka thought, it was too late.

Whatever else happened today, Valka thought, she would make sure this Erik would never again hurt Astrid.

Valka was already turning and scrambling onto Cloudjumper's back before the knife hit its target, knowing she had only seconds before the other Vikings would be upon her.

As a result she didn't see the result of her strike, but she clearly heard the ringing of metal as Erik intercepted her dagger with his sword.

The sound made Valka's heart drop, for it was a sound of failure.

Which was impossible. She had caught him by surprise. She had seen the dagger whirl through the air to within inches of his heart before she turned away.

And yet, when she jumped onto Cloudjumper's back and turned to look, there he was, unharmed, his sword unsheathed.

Somehow, he had moved faster than humanly possible.

And now, before Cloudjumper had even had a chance to lift off, Erik was sprinting towards her.

"Cloudjumper, go-"Valka managed to say before Erik took a flying leap, soaring right over Cloudjumper's head to slam into her. She felt the wind knocked out of her as they tumbled off her Cludjumper's back, and her head slammed into the ice encrusted ground, and for a moment, she saw stars.

Then she was wrestling desperately with Erik. She tried to bring her staff to, but, tussling on the ground as they were, they were in too close quarters to make use of any weapons other than their feet and fist.

And in such a contest of pure strength, Erik was more than a match for her.

It took only a brief bit of struggling for him to pin her arms, her left being held down at the wrist with his right hand, and her right arm was crushed beneath his knee. Struggle as she might, Erik was simply to strong for her to throw off.

She was vaguely aware of Cloudjumper out of the corner of her vision, roaring as he futilely tried to beat back the waves of suddenly advancing Vikings, only to be overwhelmed himself. Unwilling to leave his rider behind, Cloudjumper fought valiantly, but in the end, all he accomplished was to deal out a few burns and scrapes before he, too, was subdued.

All the while, Erik loomed over her, his eyes gleaming with barely contained madness.

"Where is she?" he hissed, quietly enough so that only Valka heard "Where is the _Valkyrie?"_

Valka shoved upwards with all her strength, frantically trying to twist her way out from underneath him, but Erik wouldn't give her an inch. While she knew it was a futile endeavor, she tried anyways.

Seconds ticked by, and they strained against each other. Sweat beaded on Valka's forehead, but she refused to… give… in….

With an explosive exhale, Valka slumped, her body unable to carry on. While she was panting for air, Erik seemed no worse for wear than when they started.

"Where is she?" Erik repeated, in the exact same tone as before.

But behind her mask, Valka kept her lips determinedly sealed.

_No matter what happens… I won't let him get to Astrid._

"Erik!" Yelled Stoick over the din "Well done, though I wonder, where are these other dragons and riders you told us of?"

Erik's eyes, never leaving Valka's, narrowed in anger at that comment, and she wondered, just for a moment, if he would lash out at the chief, as if what Stoick had said was some kind of perceived insult. But just as quickly, the anger vanished.

"They are here. I'm sure of it. And I bet this rider here can lead us to them?"

"That so?" Stoick rumbled, striding over to where Valka was pinned, contempt in his eyes. "Well? Anything you want to tell us, or will we have to force the information out of you.

Beneath her mask, Valka's face hardened into a grimace of anger. And hate. Hate for Stoick, for coming here, looking to kill. Hate for Erik for leading the people of Berk here, knowing that if the full wrath of the Sanctuary was unleashed, none of them were likely to survive. And most of all, hate Drago, and men like him, how had forced the need for this very war in the first place.

When Valka spoke, her voice was a low, dangerous growl.

"_I will tell you nothing"_

Stoick's eyes bored down into her, wrathful and angry as the raging sea.

"Then you-"

Stoick was cut of a whistling shriek cut through the air, a sound that every Viking present knew and feared. Hundreds of heads turned skywards, and determination was suddenly replaced by fear as a dark, sleek shape shot out of the dragon's nest.

"NIGHT FURY!"

Valka saw him, swooping downwards at a pace that would best a diving falcon. She saw Hiccup upon his back Toothless's back, his mask covering and obscuring his features.

And she saw Astrid riding behind him, also masked.

And judging by Erik's suddenly gleeful expression, he saw Astrid too.

* * *

Astrid had never flown so fast in her life.

She clung tightly to Hiccup as Toothless rocketed out of the nest to overlook the sea of Vikings, many of whom were cowering or running for cover at the sound of Toothless's shriek. She scanned the crowd back and forth several times.

And she saw three Vikings that did not flee.

The first was Erik. He was there, his face set into a mad grin that sent a shiver down her spine. She felt the familiar tide of hatred flowing forth from the Valkyrie at the sight of her brother, seeking to wrest away her self-control.

The next was Valka, who lay in the snow, pinned and at Erik's mercy. Astrid felt the Valkyrie's rage amplify at that sight, and she had to physically force herself to take several deep, calming breaths, repeating a series of words over and over in her head like a mantra.

_I am who I choose to be._

And no matter what happened, Astrid wanted to be Astrid. Not the Valkyrie.

Only after several deep breaths did her gaze move to the final Viking who choose not to flee.

She almost didn't recognize the chief of her former tribe.

Stoick the Vast. A great titan of a man, standing nearly seven feet tall, and with a girth to match, Stoick was probably held the title of the strongest Viking on his island, and possibly many other islands as well. Not only that, but Stoick was well renowned as one of the greatest of dragon killers in the entire Archipelago.

And he was staring up at the descending Night Fury with a look of unmatched hatred.

"Get me down there" Astrid said to Hiccup. "Right by your mom and Cloudjumper."

"What? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to put a stop to this" Astrid growled. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

And so, the two of them drifted down like a leaf, touching down gently not ten feet from the glaring Stoick. Not once did he take his eyes off of them, and when they finally touched down, he spoke.

"Well, look who it is. I was beginning to doubt that there were going to be any other riders here. But here. You. Are."

Astrid swung her leg over the saddle and slid down Toothless's right side, never taking her eyes off of Stoick. Though she loathed to admit it, Astrid was more than a little nervous at the about facing up the legendary chief of Berk, not to mention Erik, who wanted nothing more than to kill her, was only a few running strides away. Astrid had left her spear back at her room (she had hardly been able to make herself touch it since the incident with Stormfly), and so she was only armed with a small dagger, concealed in one boot.

"Astrid… is that…Erik?" Hiccup whispered, his voice filled with shock and horror.

"Yes." Astrid replied "Don't worry. Just stay close to me. I'll be alright."

"Astrid, I-"

"Don't"

Astrid wished those words didn't come out quite as harshly as they did, but once they were said, there was no taking them back. With one last glance back at Hiccup, Astrid strode forward until she stood just outside of Stoick's arm reach.

"Yes, there are more of us." Astrid said, doing here best to keep her voice as steady as possible. "And you have no right to invade our home."

"Right?" Stoick growled, "And what right do you have to invade ours, dragon rider. To steal our food, to kill our people, to burn our homes? Well, we've had enough. Now it's our turn."

"So this is just vengeance for you then? Trying to hurt those who hurt you?"

"Hardly. I do what I must to protect my village, as a chief aught. Is that so hard to understand, Dragon Rider?"

Stoick's voice was growing thicker with emotion by the second. The most prominent among those among those emotions was anger, but beneath that, there was a sense of sadness, grief, and weariness. Had the situation been differently, Astrid might have taken a moment to feel sympathy for him.

But now was not the time for pity.

"I know what it means, Stoick the Vast, to have so many depending on you." Astrid began slowly. She was keeping one eye on Erik, he seemed to be straining against himself to leap at her. He held back, probably waiting for some signal from Stoick.

"It is true that this nest is a home to dragons. They are to me what your people are to you. I protect them."

Out of the corner of her eye, Astrid saw Valka tense.

"I understand that you would want to end the threat to your people." Astrid continued "I would want the same thing in your position. But have you ever considered trying another way?"

"I don't treat with animals, like you do." Stoick replied. He swung his axe down from the holster on his back and brandished it in one meaty fist. "And anyone peacefully with those blood-thirsty killers is a traitor to their people. You deserve to be killed like one of them."

Stoick cocked his arm back to throw the axe, a strike that surely would have killed Astrid, for she made no move to defend herself. She heard Hiccup cry out in alarm behind her, and Toothless echoed his riders scream. For her part, Astrid still did not move.

Other than to close her eyes, and hope that her plan would work.

Thankfully, it did.

There came a scream for the side, then a grunting noise, and a figure suddenly slammed into Stoick's side just as he hurled his axe. The force was not enough to knock the stout chief off of his feet, but it was enough to throw off his aim so that the projectile missed Astrid. Stoick snarled, and turned to face the person foolish enough to get in his way.

And his breathing nearly stopped, along with his heart.

For there, standing there before him, her mask discarded, was his wife.

* * *

When Valka had seen that Stoick was about to attack Astrid, and that her she made no move to defend herself, Valka's instincts had kicked in at once. With a surge of newfound strength Valka didn't know she had, she heaved Erik off of her and surged to her feet. She charged at her husband, knowing, in that moment, that there would only be one way to protect Astrid.

Reveal herself. Or Stoick would kill her. That was what she had to do to protect Astrid.

And in that moment, nothing else mattered.

Now she stood between them. Her former husband, and her adopted daughter. Her mask was gone, and Valka knew, in that moment, that the lives of hundreds, including her own, would be irrevocably changed.

Dead silence covered the entirety of the island. Hundreds of faces started at her in pure shock, faces of those Vikings that had known her. Some of the younger warriors looked around in confusion at the sudden bout of stillness that had come over their elders. Even Erik, recovered now and moving to strike at her, was stopped in his tracks from pure shock.

But no one's was more shocked than Stoick's.

And of all of the gazes boring into her, Valka was most terrified of _his. _

The silence stretched on agonizingly as she waited for Stoick's expression to change from shocked to anger, to hatred. She waited for him to scream at her, to charge forward and punch her, to do _anything at all._

But he never moved. He just stood there, as still as a statue.

"I know what you're going to say Stoick…'How could I leave you like this'…. 'Why could I not come back to you after all these years'…. to our son."

Valka chocked on the last word, twenty years of pain coming back to the surface after being buried for s long. It hurt, oh it hurt terribly, a pain that was both insubstantial and hideously real. Valka was quickly trying to fight back her tears, though they came anyways, though she refused to allow herself to stop talking, for fear that she would simply collapse into full fledge sobs.

"I pleaded with you, all of you. I begged _so many times_ for the fighting to stop."

The tears were flowing freely now, and Valka was making no move to stop them. Stoick's only response was to continue staring blankly.

"I could not live that life anymore, Stoick. I couldn't kill dragons like you did. I…I…"

Suddenly, Stoick took a step forward, Valka flinched, almost instinctively. He continued to advance, and Valka found herself backing away, moving two steps for every one of Stoick's. She reched back with her hand to feel for the steep wall of the nest, fearing that without the physical support, she might simply fall over into the snow.

Instead, she felt warm fingers slip into her hand, and she nearly broke away from that contact, for it came so unexpectedly. Those fingers were longer than her own, and more callused, but so very gentle. The gripped her hand securely, squeezing it in a way that was oddly… comforting.

She didn't have to look back to know it was her son who was holding her hand, supporting her.

Valka then looked Stoick in the eye once again. He was now right in front of her, no more than a foot or two between them. She inhaled deeply.

"I cannot say I am sorry for my actions, for I only did what I thought was right." She said. "But I am sorry for the pain I have caused."

"I am too, dad." Valka head Hiccup say behind her, and she turned to see that he, too, had taken off his mask. His eyes, too, were filled with tears, but he stood fast beside his mother.

And now, as she turned back to her husband, she saw tears in his own eyes as well.

"I thought you were lost forever." He said quietly, in a tone in which Valka had never heard him speak before. "Both of you"

With one huge hand, Stoick cupped his wife's cheek and used his thumb to wiped her tears away. The moment hung in the air endlessly, and everyone on the island held their collective breath.

"You're as beautiful as the day I lost you."

* * *

**Whew. That was a thing. Like it? Hate it? Let me know.**

** Review, fallow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one!**


	36. Act 3: Beginning Of The End

**I'm back!**

**Hope you guys are all having a good summer so far. Its been tough for me, starting out with my new job and all, but its all starting to smooth out now. As usual, I wish I could have gotten this chapter up earlier, but I didn't so here it is now. **

** With no more further ados, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

"NO!"

That single word was torn from Erik's throat almost against his own volition, shattering the tranquil silence that had come over the crowd. Hundreds of eyes turned towards him at that moment, but he didn't care.

This was not how it was supposed to happen. These people were supposed to be destroying the nest. These people were supposed to be fighting the dragons, even if it meant that they were all to be destroyed. And after, Dragon was supposed to finish of the last remains of the winning side, to claim the ultimate victory.

And he, Erik, was supposed to be the one to destroy the girl whom had once been his sister.

Of course, that plan fell to disaster with the turn that not even Drago had been able to predict. That the original dragon rider was the wife of Stoick the Vast.

In his minds eye, he could see the people of Berk and the dragons united against Drago, of battling side by side, and beating the unstoppable trapper. For , with those forces combined, Drago might indeed be defeated. If the dragons and the Vikings of Berk refused to fight each other, Drago would arrive to find a much larger force to fight then he would be expecting.

Which meant that, if the plan was to work, Erik couldn't allow the two sides to _not _fight each other.

"Have you forgotten all these dragons have done to you?" Erik shouted, his eyes sweeping over the crowd. Out of the corver of his eye, Erik saw the chief and the dragon riders turn to him, but he didn't care.

If he could win the loyalty of the masses, it wouldn't matter if the chief still loved his wife. For the people of Berk, there was still the matter of the dragons that had plagued them for years.

"That woman" Erik roared, pointing his sword at Valka "has betrayed us. Chief's wife or not, she has sided with the enemy. She deserves to be dealt with like one."

There were mutterings among the crowd, though they sounded less friendly to his cause than Erik might have liked.

And of course, Stoick was less than pleased. The big chief turned to face Erik, his expression darkening with anger.

"Hold your tongue, boy. This doesn't concern you."

"Like hell it doesn't" Erik retorted. He advanced towards Stoick until the two of them were only a couple of feet apart. "This concerns the whole village, Stoick. That woman" Erik gestured to Valka "is with the dragons that attacked our village. She would see every one of us dead if she had the chance."

"That's not true." The woman, Valka, said before Stoick could reply. "These dragons are not the ones who attack Berk. These dragons are peaceful. They would never hurt a human unless they were first attacked."

"Oh really?" Erik rumbled. It was time for him to play the last card. "Then wouldn't hurt a soul? What about kidnapping a child?"

The whole of island went deathly silent.

Valka's face turned white, and her mouth moved as if attempting to form words, but no sound came out. Over her shoulder, Erik saw Astrid, still masked, flinch.

"That right." Erik said, addressing the whole of the crowd. "I think we all remember that sad, sad day, eleven years ago, when my parents lost a daughter, and I lost a sister. We all thought she had been killed in the raid, a tragic result of the war."

Erik paused to let that soak in before continuing.

"But as it turns out, that was not the case. No, my little sister was taken away, not killed. An innocent girl, no more than nine summers old, kidnapped and taken from her family, by those same dragons who raided us."

"So if these are not the dragons who plague our island, then why is Astrid Hofferson standing right there?!" Erik all but shouted as he pointed.

There were gasps from the crowd, as every eye focused on the masked girl. Astrid herself stood there in shock, her whole body rigid, and she suddenly wished she could turn invisible and hide from those hundreds of questioning gazes.

The only person who did not turn to look at Astrid was Stoick. His eyes were on his wife.

"Val." Stoick said, his voice cracking "Is this true?"

Valka started at him for a moment, and then, very slowly she nodded.

"It is true." Valka said, her voice very small.

Erik's looked on with a smug grin. And opened his mouth to continue. But before he could say anything, another voice interrupted.

"Yes, it's true."

It was Astrid's voice.

* * *

It took a real force of will for Astrid to keep her voice from shaking, though when she did finally start speaking again, it came out stronger than she felt.

"It was true that when I was a child, I was taken away from my home by a dragon. It is true that I asked to be taken home, and denied. It is true that I was taught to be a dragon rider."

"But" Astrid continued "it is also true that my life was saved by the same dragon that kidnapped me. It is also true that this woman" Astrid gestured towards Valka "protected and loved me as a mother. It is also true that she prevented me from going back for my own safety. It is true that she taught me a better life, a life where I do more good than I ever would have back on Berk. It is also true-"

"Those are not good enough reasons to take a child from their mother!"

Astrid's turned towards the voice, a woman's voice.

It came from the crowd of Vikings, somewhere near the front, and rang out with a sense of confidence and authority that was strangely familiar. The crowd parted as a figure approached, and when they emerged, Astrid saw her.

Slim, tall, and lean, the woman carried herself with the bearings of a true warrior. Not the bravado-filled swagger of an over confident swashbuckler, nor the absolute arrogance of a proud, conquering warlord. No, her stance was not arrogant, but confident, balanced, and cautious. She wore a plain outfit, made of brown, form fitting leather pock-marked with metal studs, as well as iron shoulder pads, wrist guards, and boots.

But the true giveaway was the woman's waist length, golden-blond hair. And the circlet of leather that wound around her head.

After all the return of Erik and her entire village, Astrid could not muster up enough energy to be shocked at her appearance.

For this woman was someone she should have expected to see, though, with her attention focused on Erik, it had not even occurred to her that she might see some others of her family.

For this woman standing before Astrid was Iona Celestia Hofferson, Astrid's, and Erik's, birth mother.

But her face was very different from the face of the woman Astrid had once known.

The creases that crisscrossed over Iona's face were more than just the result of being eleven years older. The weariness in her eyes were much more than the fact that she was moving further and further away from the prime of her youth.

No, these were the signs of a woman who had lost much. A sign of one who had seen much, much grief. The loss of two of her children, one by circumstance, and once by choice.

Of course, now she knew that both were lost by _someone's _choices.

"Astrid… Is that truly you?"

Astrid heard the desperate pain and longing in her mother's voice, and felt a responding feeling within herself. She opened her mouth to respond, but Erik beat her to it.

"No, mother. That is not your daughter, as she is no longer my sister. You heard her. She has chosen to side with the dragons. The same dragons that killed Father!"

A jolt ran up Astrid's spine, even as the murmuring in the crowd increased.

_Father…_

But, all in all, there was to many emotions jumbling around in Astrid's mind at that moment for her to properly feel grief. Instead, she mostly felt numb, as if the pressure of so many different feelings had simply dulled her senses.

That, and she had already grieved for those she left behind once before.

"Look at her, mother. _LOOK AT HER!_" Erik yelled, pointing to Astrid emphatically.

And indeed, Iona locked eyes with her daughter for the first time in over a decade. They both stood speechlessly, staring at each other as everyone else collectively held their breath.

Astrid was the first to move.

She stepped forward, striding slowly towards her mother. She walked by Valka, who opened her mouth to speak as Astrid strode by, but Astrid silenced her with a glance of warning. She walked by Erik, who's smug look was turning to suspicion. She passed Hiccup, who eyed her with a look of concern, but trusted her judgement.

Astrid hoped that trust would not be misplaced.

And then, she was only an arms-length away, ever so suddenly, it seemed. Astrid was a shade shorter than her mother, but aside from that and their attire, they might as well have been mirror images of each other, standing rigidly across from each one another.

Astrid did not miss the fact that her mother's hand had gone to the axe strapped to her back, fingers bare inches from the handle.

"Are you truly my daughter?" Iona asked.

"Yes."

A pause followed. An agonizing silence. And then…

"I grieved for you. We all did" Iona rasped. Though her voice was harsh and dangerously close to cracking, no tears came from her eyes.

"Why did you never come back?"

Astrid closed her eyes, took a deep, deep breath. She knew what her mother was hoping for her to say. But she also knew that she deserved the truth.

"When I was no more than a girl, you once told me something. You told me that we, as Hoffersons, have always been known for looking for a worthy cause, and dedicating our lives to it wholly."

Astrid gestured to the nest behind herself before continuing.

"When I first saw this place, the entire foundation of my world was shaken. I learned that dragons, while they were not like humans, were not the mindless killers that we thought they were. And so I learned from them. I learned their ways, their habits, their secrets."

"When I looked at this place, I saw a different world. Different, but so very similar to our own. They want the same things we do. They want a home where they can live in peace. They want the best for their loved ones, their families. They wish to know joy. And once I realized that, I knew something, beyond any doubt."

"What I knew, is that here, I could find that purpose that would be worth dedicating my life to completely. Something I doubt I could have ever found on Berk. And to do that, I could not live with one foot in each world."

"That, mother, is why I never came back. Unless Berk could change, I could never come back."

The silence that followed was suffocating, so thick was it.

It was a long time before Iona spoke.

"You…you thought we couldn't change?" She said, her voice pitched barley higher than a whisper.

"Yes" Astrid replied "because in three-hundred years, Berk hasn't changed."

Iona's eyes glittered.

Then she stepped forward and threw her arms around Astrid, and only then did she start shaking with sobs.

"To hell with this stupid war. If you think that there was anything I wouldn't have done to have you back, then I must have been a failure as a mother. "

Astrid felt the tears rising in her eyes at her mother's words, even as her mother sobbed into her shoulder. Astrid didn't try to stop those tears from falling, and once they started, they didn't stop. Both women held onto each other, both supporting and needing the support the other provided. For a moment, a brief, beautiful moment, it was just them. Just mother and daughter, as it should be.

"Mom… if that is how you feel, then I am truly sorry. I know we can never go back the way things were, but-"

"Hush, Astrid."

"But… what happened to father-"

"Shhh." Iona whispered soothingly, stroking her daughters hair lovingly "Don't worry about anything right now."

Astrid sniffed.

"Do… do you believe me? About what I said about dragons?"

Iona smiled sadly.

"I know I am willing to listen, for proof of it stands before me. And I will make the village listen, if that is what I have to do to get my daughter back. It is true that I, that we, have lost much to them. But if there is even the slightest chance that we might end this war and avoid losing anyone else, then I will take it."

"Don't worry, Astrid. We will see this through."

Mother and daughter shared another tight, warm embrace, letting their actions speak louder than any words they might have spoken.

So engrossed in their thought were they that they missed the hand signal Erik suddenly gave to some unknown spectator.

Up towards the sky.

They almost didn't see the plummeting shape in time.

Iona, by some stroke of luck, saw the incoming danger, and suddenly threw herself down into the snow, dragging Astrid along with her and shielding her with her body.

Searing, white hot flames erupted above them. Shouts erupted, only to be drowned out by a roar.

A very familiar roar...

Astrid wiggled her way out of her mother's grip and scrambled to her feet.

The ground shook as it landed.

It was covered in shiny plates of steel, running from its snout and all the way down its back to the base of its tail, a suit which fit closely as a second skin. It stood up on two legs, which each sprouted sizable claws that could rend a man in two with hardly an effort, and a long, tail which boasted an array of spikes each as long as Astrid's forearm. Underneath the armor, sky blue scales flashed in the midday sun, highlighted here and there with a splash of vibrant yellow.

It was a deadly nadder. In fact, without the armor, it would have looked a great deal like… no. It couldn't be.

Astrid chocked on her next breath.

There was the scar on one of its wings, precisely where Erik had struck at it more than a week before. And though Astrid couldn't see it, she was sure that, without the armor, she would be able to find another scar on the dragons belly. Where she had struck.

"Stormfly?" Astrid gasped.

In response, Stormfly's spiked tail came whistling down through the air. Astrid dove of the way as the nadder's tail smashed into the ground where she had been standing, spines digging through the snow and gouging at the rough stone beneath. Without missing a beat, Stomfly turned, letting loose another jet of fire that Astrid was barley quick enough to dodge.

"Stormfly wait! It's me!"

But Stormfly gave no indication that she had even heard Astrid's cry. She came on, fire blazing in between her jaws.

Until a certain night fury leapt over Astrid's head and slammed into her dragon.

Toothless and Stormfly went down in a heap, snapping, clawing, biting. Stormfly was the larger, and therefore stronger dragon, and armored as she was, she attacked recklessly, caring not at all for defense. Toothless, in contrast, hit at her as hard as he could while taking as few hits as possible, relying on his greater speed and raw agility to stay one step ahead of his opponent.

But as skilled as Toothless may be, he was out of his element in such closer quarters combat, where as Stormfly, a Sharp Class dragon, would excel. When the two of them finally broke apart, Toothless had definitely been the one how had taken more of a beating. Long, shallow cuts nor decorated his chest, and a pair of blue and yellow spine stuck out at weird angles from his left hind leg.

Stormfly, because of her armor, was barely scratched.

Toothless was ready to continue the fight, but strangely, it was Stormfly who first backed off. Not out of fear or submission, but…

…at a signal from _Erik._

"Well, seems like you will get to survive for a a bit longer, sister. No matter. It is probably better this way."

And with that, Erik leapt up onto Stormfly's back, and the two of them shot off into the sky.

"Astrid…Astrid, are you alright?" Hiccup's frantic voice sounded behind her.

"Yes." She replied. She pointed up to where Stormfly and Eirk had vanished "But Stormfly isn't"

"What happened to her. Why is she fighting us?"

"I don't know. I-"

What Astrid was about to say was drwoned out by the sound of a horn, a long, deep blast that shook the air.

"Oh know" Astrid whispered.

Drago had arrived.

* * *

**Final battle begins next chapter. Hold onto your hats, folks. **

**Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one. **


	37. Act 3: The Storm Breaks

**And here we are. The final battle. The climax. The moment everyone has been waiting for. Its going to span several chapters so that I can get everything in that I want, so don't worry. There will be more to it than one chapter.**

** Without further ado, enjoy.**

* * *

There was nowhere to run. Pinned between the nest and Drago's fleet, the Vikings of Berk were effectively trapped. The only way out was through the gigantic mass of ships now stalking menacingly towards them like a vast, dark storm cloud, implacable, hungry, and menacing.

Still, large as Drago's army was, they were in for a surprise.

The Berkians were more than ready for a fight.

After the long days of sailing, waiting in anticipation for a battle, only to find there had been none to be had, they had no way to release the all of their pent up, nervous energy. Some men were nervously wringing the handles of axes and swords, while others shifted their weight from one foot to the other, gazing left and right as if expecting an enemy to appear at any moment.

And when that enemy did appear, they were more than ready. The Chief knew the banner of Drago Bludvist, and so there was no question as to whether or not the approaching ships were friend or foe.

As soon as Drago's fleet came into view, an enemy they could actually _see_, they attacked with unmatched gusto.

Catapults that had been aimed at the mountain turned to face the sea, and the sky hummed as boulders wizzed through the air. Anyone of Drago's men unlucky enough to be in the direct path of that first volley of boulders was crush instantly. Many more were injured was the giant stones rebounded wildly off the deck.

But what the boulders _didn't _do was cause significant damage to the ships themselves. The gigantic black ships of Drago's fleet were not built for speed, but for war. Moreover, they were made to withstand attacks even from dragons if they had to, and so they weathered the beating more or less with ease.

It was only when their ships reached the shore that thing got truly bloody. For Drago Bludvist continued to drive his men on, and would not accept retreat. He meant to take this island. No matter how many men he sacrificed to do it.

The trappers were practically throwing themselves out of the ships to get at the Berkians, sloshing through the shallows as they drew their weapons, screaming all the while. The first few minutes were the most bloody, as Drago's men fought to gain the shore, only to be held back and slaughtered as they floundered in the cold sea water. By the dozens they came, wave upon wave of them, desperately trying to force their opponents back onto even footing.

That is when Drago unleashed his dragons.

Leaping out from the ships and streaking over the waters like miniature comets, they tore over top of the Berkain lines, raining down fire and worse on the defenders. They tried to fight back, but the fact that the dragons only attacked in swift, strafing runs made them hard to hit, much less hurt. And the fact that Drago's trappers were continuing to push forwards relentlessly was simply too much for them to handle.

The Berkians were forced back a step. Then another. And another. And more after that, until those at the rear of the crowd had their backs pressed against the ice wall of the nest.

That was when the Nest struck back. With inhuman ferocity.

A collective roar tore forth from hundreds of reptilian throats as the dragons of the nest poured forth in streams, a living rainbow of colors streaking out to battle. Nearly every dragon native to the Archipelago (and more than a few that weren't) could be picked out from that gigantic flock, each and every one of them bellowing out their fury to the those who would dare invade their home.

The Berkians could only stare in astonishment as that aerial onslaught passed right over them without a second thought. Even more amazingly… they did not similarly pass by Drago's forces, but instead, began raining their own attacks down on the trappers. It was as if the dragons of the nest somehow _knew_ that the Berkians were not supposed to be their enemies and that Drago's forces were.

Which, to a Berkian's thinking, was clearly impossible. And yet, here it was.

The dragons of the sanctuary quickly evened the odds in the battle, for while Drago's army outnumbered the Berkians, Valka's dragons outnumbered Drago's, and the comparative strength in the skies quickly brought the fight to a standstill.

Or at least, if would have been, if not for the fact that one of the armies was Drago's. Whatever their enemy might be, the trappers feared their own master for more than they feared death. And when Drago gave the order that there would be _no _retreat, his men had no choice but to press forward.

And so, the battle continued.

Brutal. Bloody. And constant.

But it didn't hold a candle to what came next.

A roar like no other broke through the din of battle, a roar that cause everyone, dragon and human alike, to flinch and hesitate for a fraction of a second. For that roar was so vast, so deep, so resonating, that it shook the ground, the air, and the water for a mile in every direction. For those closest to the mountain, the roar could literally be _felt, _a shockwave that rippled over the crowd and tossed up powdery snow all across the island.

It was the territorial bellow of a Bewilderbeast. The mere sound of it was terrifying enough, but the sight of it was something else entirely.

At first, some of the men wondered why a part of the mountain seemed to be moving. Until they realized what they were seeing was the Alpha's crest on the back of its head, rising up from the nest as a herald of the titanic beast. The sheer size of it was absolutely staggering, hundreds of tons of muscle flesh, and scales. It tore its way out of the gigantic ice spires like they were twigs instead of icicles thicker then tree trunks. As it descended, it exhaled, breathing out a great gout of icy cold water that smashed into Drago's lines, scattering men and machines of war alike before freezing in mid splash.

Then it smashed into the army like a living battering ram, and nothing could stand it its way.

Or so the defenders of the nest believed.

* * *

Drago was stunned by the turn of events.

As was his way, he led his men into battle personally, right in the front lines, close enough to the front lines to stare his enemies in the eye, close enough to watch the ebb and flow of the battle. Close enough, even, to engage his enemies directly.

Many things Drago might be, but he was no coward.

And he still had complete confidence in his plan. He saw the titanic Alpha dragon smashing into his lines, tossing men and armored dragons about like broken rag dolls. There was nothing his men could do to even slow that thing, let alone kill it.

But then, Drago had not expected them to. That was what his other weapon was for.

And after their alpha was dead, it wouldn't matter that the Berkians were there to fight. Nothing else would matter.

Even the Valkyrie wouldn't be enough to stop him. Perhaps he might even be able to catch her alive again. The thought pleased Drago greatly.

Whether she ended up alive or dead, she would not escape him a second time.

Grinning manically, Drago turned back towards the ocean and started screaming wordlessly, swinging his signature weapon, a long, worn bullhook, over his head.

The waters surged and bulged upwards as something huge moved beneath the surface…

* * *

Astrid knew something was wrong.

She, along with Hiccup, Mira, Balder, and Blade, had sallied forth out of the nest with all of the other hundreds of dragons, and so far, their attack seemed to be inflicting a heavy toll on their opponent. Astrid, sitting behind Hiccup in Toothless's saddle, had a view of exactly how much damage they were inflicting, which was considerable indeed. Entire ships now lay smoldering in the water, slowly sinking as the ocean reached up hungrily to claim them. And on the land, it was little better, with large swaths of ground now scorched black, and huge piles of ash where catapults and net launchers had once stood.

And yet, something made Astrid uneasy.

Even if the Berkian forces had choosen to fight the sanctuary at weaken it, Drago still didn't have anything in his arsenal that could take down the Alpha dragon. Yet, even after Valka had directed that king of dragons to emerge and defend his home, no retreat was sounded. Though Drago's men did make a point of moving out of the way of that rampaging titan, they did not seem as if they were intimidated by it as they should.

That, and Drago's dragons did not answer to the Alpha's call.

In all her years in the living in the Dragon's Nest, Astrid had never once seen a dragon that was able to resist a Bewilderbeast's call so readily, though he had rarely used it in the years Astrid had known him. No amount of stubbornness, defiance, or willpower could counter the almost hypnotic effect an Alpha's call could have on dragons. By design of nature, they could not resist.

Yet those armored dragons they now battled were doing just that.

Which was impossible.

Unless…

And then, Astrid saw it.

At first, it looked like no more than an unnaturally large wave, rising more and more as it approached the shore. The ships near the beach were shoved upwards and to the side of that strange wave, even as it continued to swell, gaining in height by the second.

And beneath that wave, something big… no, not big, but something _gigantic, _moved.

It broke the surface, and Astrid could not contain her gasp of horror.

It was a second Bewilderbeast, a grey-skinned one in contrast to the others pristine white scales.

_So_, Astrid thought, _Drago doesn't control all of those dragons. He only needs to control one. _

Suddenly, the battle seemed much more daunting.

And the stakes were suddenly much higher.

"Hiccup" Astrid whispered "We have to find your mom. Fast."

* * *

Valka was no less horrified by the appearance of the second Bewliderbeast than Astrid was, and had an even greater knowledge of the implications. How Drago managed to find a Bewilderbeast, let alone control one, was a mystery to Valka. Even she could not exert any significant control over the one living in the nest, should it come to that. Oh, sure she could ask for its aid in its times of need, but she could no more force it to do anything against its will than she could sprout her own set of wings and fly.

And yet Valka doubted Drago would simply be asking for aid. No, in every one of his minions, Drago demanded total obedience.

Valka swung her staff over her head, directing the entourage of dragons surrounding her to move forward and engage Drago's Alpha. Strong as they were, Bewilderbeast's were not fast dragons. If she could distract it long enough for their own Bewilderbeast to crush Drago's army, then there would be more dragons free to come to their aid.

A dozen or so dragons flocked around Cloudjumper in response to Valka's signal, even as they arrowed towards the dark titan emerging from the water. They moved into a tight V formation, with the Stormcutter leading, diving straight for the face of the leviathan, who had now set his eyes upon them.

"We don't need to kill it, Cloudjumper" Valka told her dragon, having to shout over the sound of the wind rushing past them "We only need to keep it busy."

The distance was short, and they closed with incredible speed, such that it only took a moment before Valka could make out every scale on their opponents face. Cloudjumper let out a roar of challenge-

-and then, just as suddenly, all the dragons in Valka's impromptu attack squad wheeled, shooting back the way they came. Valka nearly lost her footing on her dragons back, though after her footing was regained, she couldn't make them turn around again. None of the dragons, not even Couldjumper, would listen to her. They

For such was the command of their own Alpha, who wished to protect. His roar resounded over the stones once again, a clear challenge to the one who would seek to wrest away his rule. His counterpart responded with an equally load roar, full of hate and pure viciousness.

They plodded towards each other on gigantic feet, each step causing a rumble like thunder. Each of them reiterated their challenge with a mighty bellow, and when neither of them would concede, they closed the remaining distance. Their long tusks locked together, and so began the battle of the two Alphas, a battle that would, almost certainly, determine the fate of the dragons nest.

* * *

Erik hardly cared about the battle raging on around him. Perched on the back of his new dragon, he scoured the battle field, flying high and out of the way of the main battle. For the most part, he saw little action, though he occasionally happened to be in the path of some dragon that had chosen to flee in jus the right direction to bring it to him.

When that happened he and his nadder- Stormfly, he had heard his sister call it- made them regret their error.

But he was looking for one dragon rider in particular.

He picked out each of them among the teaming mass swirling above the battle field. The Boneknapper rider, the Changewing rider, and the Thunderdrum rider. He ignored those ones, for they were not his goal. Drago had ordered him to hunt down and crush any of the dragon riders he could should he get the opportunity, but he didn't even give those other a second glance.

No, it took him a bit longer to search out the one he wanted.

Then, just as the twin Bewilderbeasts clashed, he spotted them.

Three riders upon two dragons. On one, the stormcutter, was the woman, the wife of the chief, swinging her staff and using it to direct the sanctuary's dragons every which way. On the other dragon, the night fury, was the boy.

And Astrid.

With twin roars, Stormfly and Erik dove towards those two dragons.

* * *

**Be sure to review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one. **


	38. Act 3: Astrid's Plan

**Coming down to the last few chapters, so here we go. **

** Enjoy**

* * *

Once again, Astrid almost missed the descending doom dropping down on her.

She clung to Hiccup as he directed Toothless towards Valka, whom the pair had just spotted. She had yet to spot them in turn, and they were desperately trying to get her attention, though they were having a difficult time closing towards her. She wasn't staying in one place for any length of time.

It was then that Astrid felt her instincts begin to scream at her.

Perhaps it was a combination of things that touched her on several different senses, each insignificant on their own, but all adding up to create a tangible warning that set off alarms inside Astrid's head. A tiny flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye, somehow separate from the rest of the battlefield. A slight whisper of wind over wings. A feeling of a sudden presence closing in.

She looked up just in time.

There was Stormfly, diving down towards her, Toothless, and Hiccup. Wings folded tightly to her sides, her new armor gleaming in the afternoon sun, she shot towards them with incredible speed. On her back, his sword already drawn, was Erik

Astrid didn't have time to do anything else. She didn't have time to think. She didn't have time to feel the sorrow at seeing her dragon, her friend, forced into such service. She didn't have time to feel anger, at Drago, at Erik, at the dark Bewilderbeast.

She didn't have time to feel guilt for the part she played in doing this to Stormfly.

At that moment, all she had time to do was act.

She slammed her boot down on Hiccup's left foot, which was secured in the stirrup used to control Toothless's tail fin. The pedal tilted precariously, and Astrid felt a responding in their flight. Hiccup let out a cry of pain, and Toothless suddenly plummeted, slewing to the right at the same time.

The impromptu dodge was enough for them to avoid what would have been a devastating sneak attack, and Astrid could feel the whoosh of air as Stormfly's claws slid past her head. She heard Erik let out a scream of frustration as he shot past, then wheeled around to come at them again.

But the dive had cost them, and now Stormfly was lower to the ground than Toothless, and it would take endless seconds for her to regain altitude to close with the Night Fury. But now, after having recovered from a near spiral, Toothless had all the advantage he needed.

Toothless's mouth opened wide, and this time, Astrid did not react quickly enough.

A bolt of purple-white plasma shot out of Toothless's mouth and streaked across the distance separating him from Stormfly in the blink of an eye. It smashed into her side, erupting in a burst flame, briefly obscuring her for Astrid's view. But the blast wasn't a particularly strong one, and combined with Stormfly's armor, it did little more than startle her.

Circled back around.

"No, Toothless, please stop!" Astrid yelled. But the only response she got was a rising shriek. Toothless was lining up a more powerful shot.

If a full power night fury blast struck Stormfly…

"Hiccup, make him stop!"

Hiccup turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"Astrid, I know you don't like hurting dragons, but that-"

"THAT DRAGON" Astrid screamed "IS STORMFLY!"

Hiccup's look turned to one of blank astonishment, and Toothless's mouth suddenly snapped shut. The Night Fury actually turned to look over his shoulder at Astrid, a similar look of incredulity as the one Hiccup wore. The chance was lost, and Stormfly and Erik disappeared into the battlefield.

"H-how…why?" Hiccup stuttered "Astrid, that nadder can't be Stormfly. She would never fight for Drago."

A cold pit formed in Astrid's stomach as she looked back towards the two dueling Alpha's, locked in mortal combat.

"Yes" Astrid rasped. "She would. Because she has no choice. None of the dragons do."

"What do you mean?"

"It's the alpha dragon." Astrid explained "Drago's bewilderbeast. It's just one dragon called the alpha, but their entire species. That's because they can control other dragons."

"How?"

"I don't have time to explain it now. The only way we can help Stormfly now is to take down that other alpha. Come on, let's go!"

"No!" A third voice interrupted. "It's no use. They aren't letting any dragon go near."

Astrid turned her head. There, hovering just a few yards away, was Valka, standing tall on Cloudjumer. Both her and her dragon bore numerous minor cuts and scrapes from the battle, but nothing serious or debilitating. The look in Valka's eyes, however, chilled Astrid to the bone.

Never before had they been so filled with despair.

"Both of the Alphas are keeping all the dragons away. It is a fight for them, and them alone. They don't want any others interfering in their battle for dominance." Valka explained. Though outwardly, Valka was trying to appear calm, Astrid had known her long enough to understand that she was beyond worried.

"There must be something we can do to help" Hiccup cried. "Even if we can just distract it, it might give us the edge we need."

But Valka was shaking her head.

"We can't get near them. The only thing we can do is continue helping our people against Drago's men. The rest-" she gestured to the alphas

"-is theirs to decide."

With that, Cloudjumper wheeled around and dove back into the fray of Vikings and dragons, lending their held where they would.

"Well Hiccup, what are you waiting for? If we can't fight that thing, we'll do what we can to help. Let's go."

But Hiccup didn't move. Nor did Toothless move other than to flap his wings, keeping them in a hover. A long moment passed, but Hiccup gave no indication that he had even heard her.

"Hiccup? Hello… Hiccup, they need our help. Let's go!"

"Astrid. We're going after Stormfly."

"What? Why? Hiccup, there isn't anything we can do for her. The only way she will be set free is if Drago's alpha is defeated. What are you going to accomplish? Have you suddenly learned how to counter _dragon mind control!"_

"No" Hiccup replied, his voice quiet calm "I can't get through to her, but you can."

"No, Hiccup, I can't!" Astrid growled in frustration. "It is not possible. You wouldn't understand,because you haven't seen just how powerful an alpha's command is. I can't get through to her. She isn't herself anymore. There is no point in bothering."

Tears began to stream down Astrid's cheeks at her own angry proclamations, and she found herself shaking. In saying those words, she was forcing herself to admit that, should the battle go ill, Stormfly might be lost to her forever. Despair found its way into Astrid's heart at that thought, despair stemming from cold, hard facts. Facts grounded in experience, knowledge, and the damnable doctrine of the world.

Astrid didn't want to believe it. But that made it no less true.

"Believe me, Hiccup. If I thought there was hope, I would try in a heartbeat."

Hiccup was silent for a long, long moment, a moment where Astrid blocked out the sounds, sights, and smells of the battlefield. His gaze drifted off across the battlefield, then back to Astrid's eyes.

"You showed me that with help, you can beat the Valkyrie. Stormfly needs your help to find herself also. How is that any different?"

Astrid began to reply. There were several possible arguments she might have used, based on what she had learned by spoken word or by experience. She could provide numerous examples of times when she had seen dragons try to resist the commands of an alpha, even with the help of others, and yet still fail.

But all the arguments Astrid might have made fell dead in her throat. She started to speak several times, but stopped in each instance with a short choking sound.

Because she wanted to believe him.

Perhaps she was letting emotion cloud her judgement, but she didn't care. Hiccup had dangled a hope before her, a tiny ray of hope, and like she said, she would take it to get Stormfly back.

"Alright" Astrid said "you said we need her to remember herself. Any ideas?"

"You know her better than me. I'm all ears."

Astrid thought for a moment. And then it hit her.

"Hiccup, which of these saddle bags do you keep all of your drawings in?"

* * *

The battle between the two alphas was nothing short of titanic.

It didn't even look like living creatures as much as it looked like two mountains that had uprooted and decided to fight each other. Whenever they clashed, it shook the ground, shook the water, shook the very _air _which surrounded them. Every step of their gigantic feet tore massive gouges through snow, stone, and ice, and the swipes of their tails and tusks smashed anything in their path to tiny pieces.

They were pretty much oblivious to the amount of collateral damage they were causing, though fortunately they were far enough away from the main battle that they were not crushing the troops from either army. Only those who were unlucky enough to be blinded by the pain of their wounds, stumbling around senselessly, ever came close to the dueling titans.

They were crushed in short order.

The battle continued on ceaselessly, with neither of the Bewlidereasts asking for, nor giving any, quarter. They seemed almost to be mirror images of each other, tusks locked together, straining to push the other back, both of their faces twisted into ugly snarls of rage.

But the fight was not an even one, and eventually, it began to tell.

The Bewilderbeast of the Sanctuary was indeed a magnificent specimen, even among his incredible species. Healthy as any dragon in the world, it seemed as if he would be more than a match than any dragon who served under Drago, who would be trained by way of abuse and deprivation of basic needs. And certainly, the Dark Bewilderbeast was no exception, as anyone could tell. After all, the color of its scales was not a natural cover, but a testament to its lack of health.

That fact gave the defenders hope. For a time.

But when it came down to it, the Alpha of the sanctuary was no fighter. Oh, yes, his sheer size made him an incredible force on a battlefield of any scale, and his ability to dominate nearly any dragon made him all but unstoppable.

Drago's alpha was not like other dragons.

With the advantage of size and dragon control stripped away in this particular fight, the Alpha of the Sanctuary was far from invincible. It had been a long, long time since he had gone up against anything that provided a challenge for him, and he had grown a little too complacent over the years. His skills in battle that had served him well when he was younger and smaller were all but forgotten.

Drago's alpha had been forced to learn those fighting skills. Every day of its life, over and over, they had been drilled into him, preparing him for this day, this very _moment. _

The moment when it would become the undisputed king of all dragons. The Dark alpha thought it was time to end this little game.

With a heave of effort, the dark alpha surged backwards, unlocking his tusks from those of his counterpart. He moved back enough so that his feet splashed back into the water, then surged forwards with all his considerable might.

The two alphas butted heads, but the advantage of momentum gained Drago's gave him a slight edge. He shoved the other alpha the point where it's front legs were forced completely off the ground. He kept pushing on his now unbalanced opponent, and the alpha of the sanctuary felt its rear paws begin to slide.

The white alpha tried to dig his claws into the ground, but the damage had already been done, the advantage gained. The Dark Alpha kept pushing, giving his opponent no chance to recover. The pair, locked in a new clench, they were pushed back towards the sanctuary, faster and faster.

The slide ended with a thunderous clash as the white alpha was smashed into the sanctuary.

Chips of ice the size of spears went flying in every direction, and a cloud of smaller ice crystals rose up in a blinding curtain that blotted out everything.

And the white alpha tumbled to the ground, onto its side.

It cried out one more time as the dark alpha's tusks speared through its now exposed belly.

Then, it was silent.

* * *

Astrid had a plan.

It might not have been a great plan, or a well considered plan, but it was a plan. It was a plan to get Stormfly back, as unlikely as that seemed.

Then she saw the alpha fall.

Astrid turned cold from head to toe.

When she saw the gigantic white form lying still in the snow, a sense of profound grief hit her square in the stomach. The alpha had been so much a part of her home for the past decade that she had come to think of him almost as a feature of the landscape. That is, an unchanging, eternal part. He had been there long before she had, and she had firmly believed that he would have been there long after she had gone.

But that had suddenly come to a sudden, shocking end.

Astrid clutched the piece of rolled up parchment tightly in one hand. The sudden end of the alpha meant that if their plan did not succeed.

Then Stormfly would be lost forever. Along with every other dragon in the sanctuary.

It was time to find her brother again.

* * *

**So, there we are. I know you guys have been waiting patiently for the sequel, and I am just as eager to start sending it out to you. I don't want to rush the end of this story though, so I am asking for a little more patience. Thank you all.**

**Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one. **


	39. Act 3: My Blood Brother, My Soul Sister

The battle was all but over, and that made Erik angry.

With the sanctuary's alpha fallen, it was only a matter of time until everyone of their enemies were either defeated or captured. Or under the command of their new king. And the chance that Astrid was going to be captured instead of killed was growing more likely by the second.

Already the dragons of the sanctuary were beginning to falter, their flight paths changing as they moved to obey the call of their new leader. They landed down at his feet, dozens upon dozens of them, each bowing their heads low in a gesture of submission.

A number of dragons still fought against Drago's forces, including those of the dragon riders, but the resistance was melting away quickly. And without the support from the air, the Berkians were once again being forced back. But that back was to a wall, and they would soon be crushed.

Erik clenched his fists angrily around the reins of his new saddle. Drago had promised that he would leave Astrid for Erik to deal with, but the boy know Drago well enough to figure out that the man probably had little intention of keeping his word. Once the alpha took control of that Hiccup's dragon, she would be captured. And no one escapes Drago a second time.

Which mean that now, it was a race to see who could get to her faster. This was Erik's final chance to get his ultimate revenge, and he had no intention of wasting it.

And then, he saw her.

Perched on top of one of the gigantic ice spikes that jutted out from the sanctuary, she stood, a solitary, irregular silhouette against the sky. She balanced on the very edge, right near the tip of the icy stalactite. Doing nothing…just waiting.

Erik knew instinctively that she was waiting for him.

Though he knew the potential for a trap was great, Erik didn't care.

"Up dragon." He said to his sisters nadder. "Let's go say hello to your former master, shall we."

The alpha had commanded Stormfly to obey all of Erik's commands.

She could not resist.

* * *

Astrid was shaking so enough that she nearly dropped her spear. And she didn't bother to tell herself it was from the cold.

No, it was from fear. Ironically, it was the fear of falling.

Granted, she had stood atop the gigantic pillars of ice emerging from the sanctuary before, just as she was doing right now. It was had once been a favorite perch for her and Stormfly, a place to simply think and be alone together, away from the clammer and noises of the nest. But now, knowing Stormfly would not catch her, Astrid became acutely aware that it was very slippery. And very narrow.

And it was a very, _very, _long way to the ground.

Still, she wanted a place far enough from the battle that it would not interfere, but close enough that someone looking for her would find her. And indeed, someone did find her.

Stormfly and Erik ascended towards her.

Astird tensed. She had insisted that Hiccup leave her, as Toothless's mere presence would make Astrid's plan that much harder, but Hiccup had been adamant on not letting her go up against Erik alone. He was watching over her, but she doubted that he could get to her in time if she _did _fall.

But it could not be helped. Toothless was too threatening for Stormfly to ignore, should he be near, and Astrid wanted her dragon's entire attention focused on her.

Which was arguably not such a great idea when you were balancing precariously with a huge drop beneath you, and one false move would send you plummeting to your death.

Stormfly landed opposite Astrid, closer to the base of the ice spike than her rider. Astrid heard a crackling sound as Stormfly's claws dug into the ice for purchase, getting a much more stable footing than Astrid had.

Atop Stormfly, Erik grinned at Astrid smugly.

"It seems as if the chase is over. You have nowhere left to run, little sister. What happened to your night fury and your boyfriend? Decided to leave you stranded with your back to a cliff, did they?"

But Astrid paid no mind to Erik's gloating. Her eyes were all for her dragon.

"I must admit" Erik continued "being able to ride a dragon does have its uses. Perhaps Drago will let me keep this one… what was her name again? Stormflare? Stormfire? Stormflame?"

Now Astrid did look up at her brother. By the look on his face, he hadn't actually forgotten Stormfly's name, but was just trying to make Astrid angry. But that bit of knowledge was not enough to stop Astrid's retort.

"Her name" Astrid snarled, practically spitting the words out "Is Storm_fly."_

"Oh, of course. S_tormfly?_ A strange name for a dragon. Mind if I change it after you are dead?"

He was trying to goad the Valkyrie out. And it was working. She wanted to leap at him, throwing caution to the wind, hoping to kill him before either he or Stormfly had a chance to defend and counter. But it wouldn't work, for there was simply no way she could move fast enough to hit him with a fatal strike, let alone survive the experience.

Besides, to get Stormfly back, she violence was the last thing she wanted to use.

Slowly, very slowly, Astrid took a step forward, placing a cautious foot in front of the other along the narrow surface. Fighting against the urges of the Valkyrie to charge forwards and leap for her brother, she called out, softly.

"Stormfly. Please, I'm sorry. It was all my fault you are like this. Please, come back to me."

There wasn't even the tiniest spark of recognition in Stormfly's knife thin pupils.

"Heh, resorting to begging now? Pathetic. Come, Stormfly. Kill your former rider. Slowly"

On Erik's commands, Stormfly, too, began to step forwards, and her jaws parted slightly. Within her mouth, flames began to burn, flames so hot that Astrid instantly felt herself sweating, even though she was still thirty feet away. But Astrid kept coming.

"Stormfly…please. I won't fight you. We were once friends, don't you remember? No, we were more that friends. You were my family. My sister."

At the word 'family' Astrid thought she saw something flicker in the Stormfly's eyes, but it was gone in a flash, just as quickly as it had come. She continued to advance, eyes blank and empty once again.

Astrid switched her spear to her left hand, and reached beneath her cloak slowly with her right.

"Do you remember this place Stormfly? How you used to bring me up here, where we could be together and alone? I was never afraid up here, because I knew you would always catch me if I fell."

Astrid's hand emerged from under her cloak.

"Maybe this will help you remember."

Stormfly stopped.

In Astrid's outstretched hand was a sheet of thin parchment, fluttering in the wind slightly. On its surface, inscribed in black charcoal, was an image. It wasn't an image that Astrid had drawn, for she had never been a particularly good artist, but that did not matter.

It was the picture Hiccup had drawn of her and Stormfly together, just over a week before, on that day down by the stream. Accurate and finely detailed, it was more than enough to remind Stormfly of that more innocent time.

"Do you remember this Stormfly? Do you?"

This time, Astrid was definitely sure there was something in her dragon's eyes.

"What are you doing, dragon" Erik rumbled angrily "Destroy her!"

But Stormfly did not move. She stood as if rooted to the perch, the only flickers of motion on her whole body coming from her eyes.

They locked with Astrid's. Astrid started back, wanting Stormfly to see her concern, her remorse, her love.

And suddenly, Stormfly remembered. She remembered the day she met Astrid, when the girl saved her from a watery grave, far beneath the ocean. She remembered the moment when she chose to bond with Astrid, knowing without knowing that this girl would be her friend, her rider, her sister, forever. She remembered the long, long days of training, fighting, living, laughing, and everything else.

But, most vividly, Stormfly remembered how her last encounter with Astrid ended. When Astrid, under the influence of the Valkyrie, had nearly killed her with a spear thrust to the stomach.

And that same spear was now clutched in Astrid's other hand.

And now, when Astrid took a step forwards, Stormfly began to step back. And instead of her eyes being simply blank, they were filled with fear.

Her dragon was afraid of her. The thought of it almost broke Astrid's heart. She was so close to having her friend back, so close to being reunited with her dragon, but because of her one simple mistake, her one slip up, her dragon might still leave her.

All because the Valkyrie had taken control for that one, crucial second. A second that seemed like a lifetime ago. In that moment, Astird had lost her friends trust. She had chosen her alter ego over her best friend. Now, all she had to do was show Stormfly, beyond any doubt, that something like that would never happen again.

Astrid had to show Stormfly that she meant more to her than any stupid skills at fighting. And she had an idea of how to do that.

She approached very slowly, sliding one foot in front of the other, careful to keep her balance and make no sudden movements at the same time. Once, her left foot slipped a fraction of an inch, and Astrid's whole body tensed, cold sweat breaking out across her forehead. But she recovered, let out a slight sigh of relief, and continued on.

All the while, Stormfly was frozen to the spot on the giant icicle, watching Astrid with wide eyes.

Very, very slowly, Astrid brought her spear up in front of her, holding it in both hands, lengthwise.

"What are you doing dragon?! Attack her! You cannot resist the alpha" Erik screamed.

But neither Stormfly nor Astrid seemed to hear him.

Astrid was now only a few feet from her dragons snout, well within striking distance should Stormfly choose to lash out, either in anger or fear, and Astrid knew that her dragon had every right to be both angry and afraid. Even if Astrid could avoid such a strike, she likely wouldn't be able to do so without slipping and falling to her death, a long, long way down.

Astrid brought her spear, still clutched in both hands, high over her head.

"I will never hurt you" She whispered.

Astrid brought her own spear down across her own knee, and snapped it into two clean halves.

"You mean more to me than the Valkyrie" Astrid said calmly as she dropped the two halves of her shattered spear and stretched out her hand towards her dragon "I promise I will never hurt you again."

There was no hesitation as Stormfly pressed her snout into Astrid's extended palm.

Astrid felt the tears flow from her eyes, even as the waves of relief crashed over her. She took her dragons chin in her hands, wrapping her arms as far as they would go around Stormfly's head. Stormfly, in returned, nuzzled her, actually lifting Astrid off of her feet for a second. Astrid let out a little laugh, and hugged all the tighter.

Her dragon loved her again.

But the moment did not last.

"How very touching" A voice, Erik's voice, came from above Astrid's head. He was still perched on Stormfly's back, and with that height advantage, he had a clear shot.

His swords screamed towards Astrid's head, too fast to dodge.

But Stormfly had other ideas.

A twist and a jerk threw of Erik's strike, causing it to dig a shallow line into Astrid's shoulder, painful but not critical. But even that was enough to enrage Stormfly further. She didn't care one bit that the man on her back happened to be her rider's brother. He tried to attack her, and that made him an enemy.

Stormfly had just found her rider again, and she wasn't going to lose her.

With a leap and a spiraling twist, Stormfly flung Erik off of her back. He might have been able to keep his seat had he been holding on better, but he had chosen to forgo his grip in favor of getting a better angle to attack his sister, and he paid for it now.

But not with his life. As luck would have it, Erik slammed into another ice spike, not far away, and locked his arms around it before he could slide off. He had lost his swords during the fall, but Astrid and Stormfly had not noticed that he had grabbed hold instead of falling to his death.

Astrid and Stormfly were reunited, and together, they had proven that they could conquer the mind controlling effects of the Alpha Bewilderbeast.

And now they were on their way to bring it down.

And they had a new plan.

An old trick the two off them had come with a few years back, a trick that was very useful against larger opponents. Of course, it was also very dangerous.

* * *

**Only a few chapter left. **

** Review, favorite and follow, and as always, have a good one. **


	40. Act 3: It's all you, Stormfly

**Stormfly is back, and it's time to start off the plan to take down that alpha. Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

"We've won." Drago said aloud, to no one in particular and at the same time, to the whole world.

All of his plans, all of his hard work, all of his plans, had come down to this moment, and it could hardly have turned out better. The nest was his, the Viking of Berk were only seconds away from facing the full wrath of the alpha, and even the Valkyrie would soon be dealt with. Drago had dozens of dragons searching for her, and it was only a matter of time before she was found. And after that, she would be his, a new, undefeatable warrior at the head of his army.

Drago had no doubt that she would eventually serve him. Many men in his own ranks had once said that they would never fight for him, would never bow down to him. He had changed that, of course, one mind at a time. Most commonly he used torture or simple fear. Finding the right torture, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional, was a personal specialty of Drago's, and fear…

Well, creating fear had always been something that came easy to him.

He scanned over what was left of the battlefield. Nearly the entirety of it was his, with only a small pocket of resistance forced up against the cliff face. The Berkians fought valiantly, but ultimately, it was futile. Only a few dragons now remained free from the alpha's control, and those could not begin to stem the tide of constant aerial assaults flying down on the battered Vikings. Not only that, but Drago's men were still keeping up the pressure with the ground assault.

The Berkians were tenacious, and they were taking a tithe out of Drago's forces with their final resistance. An unnecessary tithe, one would argue, for Drago could simply send his alpha to crush them at will, for there is no way that the Vikings of Berk could stand up to such a monster, despite their dragon killing experience.

But where would be the fun in that?

Besides, Drago was using his alpha for a much more important job. Rounding up the remaining dragons, yes, though that was not the most important reason. Of the six dragon riders, only two had been brought down so far. The girl with the changewing and the boy with the thunderdrum. Of the others, the was only the large boy with the black boneknapper, the scrawny one with the Night Fury, and the older woman with the Stormcutter.

And of course, the Valkyrie was still unaccounted for.

The air vibrated as the new alpha let out another roar, and all the dragons still not under its control reacted. They who had weathered the hypnotic assault so far were feeling their resistance begin to crumble, as the dark king turned to each one of them in turn. Some of the dragons of the sanctuary had a strong will indeed, but they could not resist the commands of the alpha.

There was only one more loose end to tie.

Drago saw the older dragon rider, the one who had been his nemesis for twenty years now. Her dragon was one of those few who still resisted, though Drago had no doubt that if the alphas full attention to it, it would be under his control. But Drago decided that for this one, there would be no need for this one.

The woman did not have the unique fighting skills of the Valkyrie, and her dragon was only one dragon. In an army of dragons.

There was no use for her in his army, and Drago thought it was time for some revenge.

Drago raised his bullhook to the Stormcutter and her rider.

"Finish her!" He roared.

The Alpha's gaze shifted towards the Stormcutter. It took a deep inhalation, gathering the cold, icy air inside its lungs. It was a far shot, but with the Stormcutter struggling to fight of the mind numbing hypnosis, it would hardly be in any state to dodge.

But just as it was about to send for a blast of deadly ice, a blue shape streaked towards the alpha like a god hurled comet.

Astrid and Stormfly had only seconds to act.

Reunited at last, the two of them shot out over the battlefield, no more than a tiny spec amidst the chaos of battle. The two of them, however, were different, different from all the other flying forms shifting through the skies.

For they flew with more purpose and direction than any other one of the dragons flying above that island.

And they were flying straight for the alpha.

The flew past the remaining Vikings of Berk, huddled up against the wall of ice that formed the nest. They flew past the hordes of hypnotized dragons, weaving in and out of their ranks with the grace and skill that came from years and years of aerial combat practice. They passed by the other dragon riders. Hiccup and Toothless, who who were fighting against the control of the alpha in mid-air, struggling to stay aloft. Blade and Shade, who battled on the ground, stubbornly trying to take as many enemies with them until they, too fell. Mira and Balder, who had already been captured, along with their dragons. And Valka, whom the Alpha had already set his sights upon.

Astrid saw, with crystalline clarity, the gaze of the Alpha focus on her adopted mother. She saw the great maw of the Alpha open, saw the jagged rows of teeth, saw the malevolent gleam in the dark dragon's eye. The dark titan inhaled, pulling a great gout of cold air into its cavernous lungs.

"Stormfly, spine shot!"

The nadder needed no more encouragement.

Stormfly flicked her tail, and there was a sharp whistle as a single spine shot out from her tail, which flickered through the air separating her from the alpha in an instant. The Alpha's gaze was completely focused on Cloudjumper, and so it didn't see the projectile racing until the very last moment.

It might not have seen it at all, had Stormfly's aim been off. But as always, Stormfly's accuracy was perfect.

The spine struck dead center of the bewilderbeast's right eye.

No blast of ice came forth from the gigantic dragon's mouth. There was only a titanic roar of pain and annoyance, a blast of pure sound that once again shook the air. The spine itself was not large enough to cause such pain, but not even an Alpha was immune to nadder poison. There wasn't enough to kill it, but it would be painful.

And more importantly, it made it angry.

"What!?" Drago roared.

For one of the few times in his life, Drago was genuinely surprised. The sight before him was simply unbelievable. There upon the back of her dragon, her _own_ dragon, Drago was sure, was the Valkyrie, shouting her defiance to him. Her nadder, too, let out a ferocious roar, a clear challenge.

Which meant the alpha had failed.

For the first time that day, Drago felt a twinge of uncertainty, and what might have been a tiny, tiny amount of fear. Could the Valkyrie counter even the powerful hypnotic pull of an Alpha Bewilderbeast? Could she even… take control of Drago's own Bewilderbeast away from him?

_No, that was impossible_ Drago told himself. This girl, whomever she might think herself to be, was only one more dragon rider. May be she could take her dragon back from him, but she could not take his dragon away. He had worked too hard for this, had sacrificed to much, for victory to be snatched away from him by a mere _girl._

But the risk of her freeing more dragons was top great. There would be no taking this one alive.

Leaping up onto the low-hanging tusk of his Bewliderbeast, Drago shouted.

"The girl and the nadder! Bring them down! DESTROY THEM!"

The sudden attack on the alpha had not been enough to break its control over its dragon army, but it had been enough to allow Hiccup to get Toothless under control. The pair of them had nearly crash-landed as Toothless had fought to gain control of himself. Hiccup had taken to heart what Astrid had said about the Bewilderbeast taking control of dragons, but he had figured, being actually close to Toothless, on his back, that he could block out the waves of mind-numbing signals the alpha would send out, but clearly, it wasn't enough. If Stormfly hadn't struck it in the eye and disrupted it's hypnotic control…

"Hiccup, I need you!"

Hiccup turned to see Astrid and Stormfly swoop towards them, nearly crashing into Toothless as Stormfly forced herself into a hover at the last moment, only a few feet away from the black dragon. Toothless let out a soft snarl at Stormfly's closeness, evidently remembering how their last encounter ended in a less than friendly manner, Astrid was able to calm him.

"It's ok Toothless. She was under the control of the alpha, but she is ok now, aren't you girl." Astrid said, rubbing the side of Stormfly's jaw. She cooed in agreement.

"I hate to ruin the moment, but I think we have a problem. And it's coming towards us right… NOW!"

Toothless and Stormfly shot straight upwards as a blast of ice tore through the spot where they had both being hovering a moment earlier. The blast fell to the ground, instantly freezing as it struck, creating a jagged formation of ice across the frozen floor of the island. Toothless and Stormfly almost lost their balance in the air from the sudden surge of movement they were force do in order to avoid the blast.

"Ya, that!" Hiccup shouted over the wind.

"I have an idea to deal with that bewilderbeast, but I need your help!"

"I'm all ears!"

Astrid told Hiccup her plan.

"Well, I've heard some pretty crazy plans before, but this one takes the cake." Hiccup said, after Astrid had finished.

"Don't worry, I've done something like this before, just on a smaller scale. The important part is the timing, and you can let me worry about that. Right now, I need you to find your mom, tell her what we are up to, and then meet me inside the nest. Then, we will finish this."

"Alright" Hiccup responded reluctantly "are you sure about this?"

"Nope" Astrid said "but it's our only chance. We have to stop that thing, once and for all."

"Ok then. Just promise me that you will be careful, alright? I'll be looking out for you alright."

"And I'll be looking after you. Just don't do anything stupid for my sake."

"Same for you."

One could argue that the first thing Astrid did when she parted with Hiccup was very stupid indeed. Of course, she had done a lot of seemingly suicidal things in her life that some would consider stupid, but this was especially crazy.

Flying right into the face of an angry Bewilderbeast was something she had never done before.

"Drago!" Astrid yelled, even as Stormfly dove to avoid a sweeping tusk that would have smashed both her and her rider od a bloody mess. "Drago, I would speak with you!"

She saw him, a seemingly tiny figure in comparison to the vast figure of the alpha Bewilderbeast. He stood upon the tusk, balanced precariously and grinning like a madman.

He lifted his hand in a gesture of stop, and his Bewilderbeast ceased its attack.

"Well, little girl, you are bolder than I thought. So what if your precious dragon is back on your side. I will have all the more fun crushing it!"

Astrid ignored the taunt as Stormfly shifted nearer to where Drago stood. When they were only a dozen feet or so away from each other, Astrid stood up on Stormfly's back, looking Drago directly in the eye.

"Drago, you don't have to do this. We will be willing to let you leave in peace if you release all of your dragons, and take your army to a far off land where we will never see you again. But if you stay, we will have no choice but to kill you and the monster you have created. The choice is yours."

Drago responded to that statement with laughter.

"Ha, how sad! I think living in the cold all these years has addled your mind, Valkyrie. Even if all the dragons of the nest rose up to fight me, they could not defeat me and my army. And it seems that they are now on my side. You should be begging for mercy, not trying to offer it."

"I never beg, Drago, especially to the likes of you. And you should be more considerate of my offer, Drago. There are others who have mocked my mercy before. They regretted it."

"Mercy? Pah?" Drago spat "It is pathetic to see a warrior of such talent who is also so very weak. With skills such as yours, you might have been a great conqueror, a warrior who could force others to your cause, and gain great power because of it. But you are afraid to reach for that power that could be yours. Such things as mercy and compassion and love are only a hindrance. I would know, for you see, we are not so very different, you and I."

"We are nothing alike, Drago" Astrid retorted, a bit more forceful and angry than she intended to be. "You say that my skills could bring me power, but you never considered that will and strength over others means nothing to me. The love, mercy, and compassion that you have labelled as a weakness not only makes my life worthwhile, but it is what gives me the talents I possess"

"I fight for something other than myself" Astrid continued. "For as great as great a fighter as I may be, I am only a small part of a much larger whole, just as my skills in battle are only a small part of who I truly am. But you fight only for yourself, and that is why you will loose! STORMFLY, LET'S SHOW HIM HOW WE DEAL WITH UNINVITED GUESTS!"

Stormfly needed no more prompting.

She unleashed a stream of fire, a tiny attack in comparison to the gigantic girth if the Bewilderbeast. But Stormfly's fire was the hottest of all dragon fire in all the world, and it struck the Alpha right in the face, a blast that surely stung it, if it did not hurt it.

With that, Stormfly turned tail, shot herself directly away from the alpha, and disappeared into the Dragon Sanctuary.

A moment later, the alpha, roaring in absolute fury, followed after her.

"It's all you Stormfly. Lets make this count."

* * *

**I think its impossible for me to right without leaving a chapter in some sort of cliffhanger. Believe me, I tried, but it just doesn't work. Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it. **

**Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one.**


	41. Act 3: Queen takes King, Checkmate

**Happy start of September everybody! You know what this means! Back to school for everybody!**

**...**

** Ya, I know not necessarily a cause for celebration, but well, what are you going to do. Anyways, I would have had this chapter up yesterday but for the fact that I couldn't access my account cause of maintenance. **

** Well enjoy!**

* * *

Astrid thought it odd how very quiet the Nest was on the inside. And how very eerie it seemed because of it.

All of the dragons that normally inhabited the nest were part of the battle outside, or had been evacuated to a safer place. And in the absence, the place seemed almost foreign to her. For the first time since she could remember, there was not whooshing of air moving in and out of hundreds of lungs. There was not flash of multicolored scales, nor a flicker of movement. The feeling of buoyant, abundant life was no more. It was unsettling. It was terrifying.

Stormfly wheeled in flight, turning to face back towards the entrance of the nest from which they had entered. The slowed down to a hover, facing that exit.

She didn't have to wait for very long.

A massive section of the walls simply collapsed, falling inwards towards Astrid and Stormfly. The section alone was thousands and thousands of pounds of ice, a piece of the gargantuan structure that had lasted longer than Astrid had been alive.

But as strong as it was, and as long as it had lasted, it could not withstand the raw, brutal force of Drago's alpha. He was determined to get at Astrid, and it wouldn't let anything stand in its way.

It came on with all of its fury, and the chase was on.

Astrid led it deeper into the nest, into a trap that would, in all likelihood, kill all four of them.

* * *

Valka watched it all with amazement, a little bit of pride, and more than a little incredulity.

She saw Astrid shoot by her, disrupting the attack against herself and Cloudjumper moments before they would have been encased in ice. She saw Astrid confront Drago, shouting her defiance into the teeth of death itself, and then turn tail and shoot off, with the Alpha close on her heals. And finally, she saw Astrid shoot into the Sanctuary, with the alpha smashing its way after her.

"What are you up to, Astrid?" Valka whispered to herself.

Just then, Toothless came tearing through the air towards Cloudjumper, nearly crashing into the Stormcutter as he beat his wings to slow his flight. Evidently, he had been moving with great haste, for to have such difficulty in slowing down.

"Mom, we need your help. Astrid has a plan, to bring down that Bewilderbeast, but we can't do it without your help. She is leading it into the nest so-"

"Hiccup, slow down!' Valka interrupted "Astrid had a what to do what?"

"She has a _plan_ to bring down the _Alpha._" Hiccup said, only a tad more slowly "And she needs our help for it."

"What kind of plan?" Valka exclaimed.

Hiccup told her.

"So that is what we need to do, and we need to do it fast!" Hiccup said quickly, and without another moments delay, shot off towards the nest, in the same direction Astrid had gone not a minute before.

Valka and Cloudjumper simply hovered on the spot, and Valka's mouth hung open in shock.

Was that girl… _insane? _True, her plan might actually work, might be the only thing that could actually stop that ice-spitting killing machine, but if such a plan worked, it was more than likely to get her killed. Why was Hiccup even going along with this?

Either he didn't understand the amount of danger the plan but Astrid in, or he had supreme confidence in her abilities do avoid imminent death.

Or he thought that if she needed him, he could save her.

"Someday, those kids are going to be the death of me." Valka whispered to herself "Come on, Cloudjumper. If we can't stop them, we might as well help them."

The two of them shot off after Toothless and Hiccup, and Valka prayed that they wouldn't all end up being horribly killed.

* * *

Fighting an Alpha Bewilderbeast, Astrid mused, was actually quite simple. Not easy, but simple. The Alpha was thousands upon thousands upon thousands of pounds of muscle, bone, and raw smashing power. Any hit against her and Stormfly, even a glancing one, would reduce the two of them a bloody smear. Whether the strike came from the tree-trunk thick tusks, the boulder like paws, the sweeping tail, or the icy breath, the result was going to be same.

So it came down a game of cat and mouse, and Astrid and Stormfly were the mice.

They wove their way around the Bewlideerbeast, dodging and ducking attack after attack as they led the monster deeper into the nest. Strong the alpha might be, but it was ponderous and slow as well, and Stormfly had little difficulty keeping out of the way of its attacks.

But, in turn, Astrid and Stormfly could hardly sting it, let alone hurt it. Fire blasts and poison spines were deflected of its scales with little to no effect, other than to annoy the great beast further. The alpha had yet to land a blow against the more nimble nadder, but it seemed as though Stormfly was faring worse than her opponent.

For all the dodging and evading would make Stormfly tire much more quickly than the Drago's monster, and once Stormfly lost the energy to keep up her speed, all it would take is a single blow to finish their battle.

All the while, Drago's dragon was practically unscathed from Stormfly's attacks.

Stormfly shot downwards to avoid another blast of ice, swooping in between the alpha's front legs, and under its belly. She wove in out of the way of the smashing front paws as the alpha swiped at her, then launched a blast of fire at its belly, though the scales there were still too tough to penetrate. When The gigantic beast started to fall downwards to simply crush the life from them, they banked out to the left, moving out from under the Bewliderbeast's right side before its massive chest would have turned them to mush.

Just as with all their other maneuverers, it didn't have any visible negative effect on the Bewidlerbeast. It simply picked itself up the ground and came on after Astrid and Stormfly.

Astrid ground her teeth in pure frustration. She and Stormfly could keep this up, but not for very much longer. Already, Stormfly was not moving with the same kind of energy she had earlier, coming closer and closer to being hit each time and gliding more and more as opposed to actually flying.

If Hiccup and Valka didn't complete their part of the plan soon, Astrid and Stormfly would be done for.

* * *

But Hiccup and Valka were working as fast as they could for the delicate results they intended to achieve.

The dragon's nest was a massive structure, a structure that had been built upon and expanded over the years to cover almost the entire island on which it sat, and so it was absolutely colossal, able to comfortably house not only the Bewilderbeast, hundreds upon hundreds of its dragon subjects. As such the nest was an architectural marvel, larger than anything and Viking could even conceive building, larger than almost any human alive could conceive building.

Naturally, a structure needed ample supports to keep its shape. A dozen or so supports, to be exact, towers of ice spaces strategically so that no point of the cavern was in danger of collapsing. They also had to be constantly fortified and cared for by their bewilderbeast architect, for the temperature of so many dragon bodies was too much for the ice to last indefinitely.

But the point was that the pillars could indeed be melted.

Valka and Hiccup moved around the sanctuary as fast as they could, but the work was delicate. They got each of their respective dragons to breathe fire on of those pillars, one at a time. Not it huge, destructive blasts they would normally use in battle, but low flames, flames that barley travelled beyond their mouths. It was tedious, delicate work, and they couldn't make it any faster, for fear of causing the pillar they were working on would collapse all together.

They didn't want that to happen. Not yet anyways.

Every minute of that tedious work felt like an eternity, for both Hiccup and Valka, because every minute they spent was another minute Astrid had to buy. So far, she was faring well against the dark titian of a dragon, but every second that passed made it more likely that Astrid would be paying with her life.

And so they continued, as quickly as they could without risking a major mistake.

There was one pillar, however, that neither Hiccup nor Valka touched. The central support of the nest, which was several times as thick as any of the other, far too thick for a single dragon to melt in a reasonable amount of time. It was the main thing holding up the ceiling of the structure, the sturdiest, the largest, and the toughest pillar in the whole cavern.

And, just as Valka and Hiccup were finishing with the last few pillars, Astrid started leading the Bewilderbeast straight for the central one.

* * *

When it happened, it happened fast.

The rapidly tiring Stormfly was doing a superb job of dodging, consider what she had been through the past week and how much she had already done. Eventually, though, the odds caught up to her.

Astrid and Stormfly ran out of time.

The had just pulled up out of a steep dive which had taken them under the sweeping tusks of Drago's Alpha, a maneuver that would have been followed by a quick reversal to going straight upwards as the tusks came swinging back the other way. But in that instant of the direction change, Hiccup gave the signal.

A brilliant blast of plasma erupted from high above their heads, showing down violet sparks in a glittering stream.

That was the agreed upon signal. And it caught and held Stormfly's attention for a crucial fraction of a second. Which was a fraction of a second too long.

The giant tusks of the Alpha came across surprisingly fast, and Stormfly could not avoid them this time. Between the slight distraction of Toothless's signal and her own exhaustion, there was nothing she could to.

The tusk struck her.

Fortunately, Stromfly managed to avoid some on of the attack, and in turned out only to be a grazing hit. Anything else would have killed both her and Astrid. As it was, the strike only just touched them, but with a creature the size of a bewilderbeast, that was enough.

The tusk _shattered_ half the bones in Stormfly's wing.

Astrid had seen it all happen with sickening clarity, with nothing she could do about it.

"Stormfly!" Astrid cried out in horror as her dragon jerked and spun out of control. There was absolutely no way they were going to have anything less than a horrible landing, for Stormfly's wing was now less than useless in its current state. Stormfly screeched in agony as she instinctively tried to flap her wing to regain altitude. This only caused her to jerk in renewed agony, making their fall even more uncontrolled.

Their crash was sudden, abrupt, and painful.

Fortunately, Stormfly was able to land on her uninjured side, and avoid crushing Astrid beneath her weight, but still, it was painful. They skidded a few feet through the greenery on the floor of the cavern, and Astrid tumbled off of her dragon's back.

"Stormfly!" Astrid screamed again, scrambling to her hands and knees to get to her dragon, who lay in agony, completely defenseless. The plan had gone all wrong. They had only needed a few more seconds, but now, not only would the plan be much harder to execute, but Astrid doubted that Stormfly would get out alive.

Especially with the dark Alpha looming over them. How much bigger it seemed to Astrid now, staring down at her and Stormfly like a snake that had immobilized a pair of mice with only its gaze. Astrid felt the weight of its gaze, like a physical force pressing down on her, telling her to flee, and at the same time, pinning her to the spot where she stood.

She did neither of those things. Though her instincts were screaming at her every step of the way, Astrid ran in front of the Drago's Bewilderbeast, imposing herself between his dragon and her own. It was a feeble, laughable defense against the sheer mighty power of the alpha, but if nothing else, Astrid would not leave her dragon again. She might die for it, but if she did, she would be with Stormfly to the end.

"Where are your taunts now, Valkyrie?" Drago called down to her from his perch on his alpha's head. "For all your efforts, all you did was delay the inevitable. I thought you said you meant to defeat me, girl, so why is my dragon still standing, and your dragon all but dead? It seems as if you should be more careful about making promises that you cannot keep."

Astrid felt a nudge on her back, and she knew without looking that Stormfly was urging her to run, and leave her behind. Slight as the chance was, Astrid might still be able to get away while Drago's alpha finished off Stormfly, and so she was prepared to sacrifice herself for her rider.

But there was no way Astrid was going to abandon her dragon. She had one more card to play.

"Drago!" She yelled "You've beaten me, and I'll give you what you want! Please! Just leave my dragon alone!"

Drago's Alpha stopped in its tracks at the command of its master.

"Really?" Alpha yelled down from his perch. "What makes you think you know what I want?"

"You want me in your army" Astrid replied, hating every word even as they left her mouth "Leave my dragon alone. Leave this island, and I will serve under you. You have already defeated our alpha, and that is what you came here for. And I promise, as long as you stay away from this island, I will serve you till the day that I die."

Even from a distance, Astrid saw the hungry spark in Drago's eyes. From the time since she had met Drago, he had told her of his intentions to have her at the head of his army. The Valkyrie, he believed, was an unstoppable warrior, the perfect champion for his perfect army. In addition, her knowledge of dragons would prove invaluable to him, both in controlling them-and destroying them.

Though he suspected treachery from her, Drago was truly conflicted. Ever since he had heard of her, he had pictured her at the head of his army, a warrior so skilled as to strike fear into the hearts of his bravest enemies. If there was even a chance that she was might actually follow through on her word, Drago was willing t take it. With the other alpha gone, it cost him little to leave this little rock unharmed. And if she did try to betray him, he could always threaten her with coming back to destroy her home.

"Very well, Valkyrie. I accept your-"

Astrid had bought all the time she needed.

With lightning quickness, Astrid leapt onto Stormfly's back, was also moving. Stormfly's had only feigned injury, hiding her wing from Drago's view so that he wouldn't know it was not actually broken. The whole crash landing was only a ruse, designed to buy them a few more moments for Valka and Hiccup to get into position.

Stormfly shot up into the air, opened her jaws, and breathed forth a stream of fire stronger than she had ever breathed before.

But it was not directed at the Bewilderbeast.

She turned and shot at the central pillar of ice within the sanctuary. And Toothless and Cloudjumper fired at the same target at the same time.

From Couldjumper's mouth shot a spiraling torus of flames, tearing towards their target with uncanny precision. From Toothless, a tremendous blast of pure plasma, a ground shaking blast that burst with a sound like crashing thunder. And from Stormfly, a stream of white-hot flame, magnesium flame, the hottest in the dragon world.

All three blasts struck the narrowest point of the pillar, and that point was completely disintegrated before Drago could react.

The entire cavern shuddered and groaned, unable to find the support it needed on the remaining pillars that Valka and Hiccup already weakened.

The whole cavern was about to collapse. And kill anyone left inside when it did.

Now came the tricky part of the plan.

* * *

**Only two chapters left, and then its on with the sequel! Can't wait to start that off!**

**Review, follow, and favorite, and as always, have a good one!**


	42. Act 3 Finale: A New Age

**Second last chapter, and very close to the conclusion. Which means, new story, here I come! Hope you all enjoy!**

* * *

Cloudjumper, Stormfly, and Toothless flew as fast as their wings could carry them.

At most, they would only have about half a minute before the whole nest was going to be completely collapsed, and Drago, with his slow ponderous Bewidlerbeast, had no chance of escaping it. Astrid, Hiccup, and Valka on the other hand, did.

Still, it wasn't going to be east.

The three of them shot out towards the entrance the moment the final part of the plan was complete, with each dragon straining to the absolute limits of their speed. Each of them pushed themselves until they thought their wings would fall off, and then they flew ever faster. Their only thought in mind was to get their riders, and themselves, to safety.

But it wasn't so simply a task.

Chunks of ice from the collapsing ceiling rained down all about them, forcing both the riders and the dragons to look more forwards that upwards. They came down in varying sizes, but almost every one was large enough to cripple one of their dragons if it struck. And if they were struck, there would be absolutely no way at all that they could escape in time. Already, the main portion of the ceiling was beginning to shift and groan ominously, ready to collapse in on itself at any moment.

The three desperate dragon riders came within sight of the exit, but it was going to be close. They were going to make it to safety with only seconds to spare.

If they made it at all.

* * *

Drago Bludvist knew that he was finished.

There was simply no way for him to escape the growing catastrophe around him, no more than he could have outrun a tidal wave or an earthquake. The dragons nest, a place he had come to conquer and use as a symbol of his great strength, was now to be his tomb. He had been out smarted by the Valkyrie for the final time, and now he would pay the price.

Drago struggled to hold his perch as his Bewilderbeast thrashed around in confusion and growing terror. It was not a stupid beast, and it knew what was about to happen, and knew it could not avoid it any more than his human master. It knew it was going to die.

Still, this thought, as it passed through the head of Drago's Bewilderbeast, was not as terrifying as one might imagine. Since it had been little more than a hatchling, the dark alpha had been force to do Drago's will, rewarded if it served, and tortured if it resisted. Drago himself was the closest thing that he had had to a father in his entire, miserable life, and all Drago had raised him to do was become a machine of pure destruction, a monster that destroyed everything it its path.

Nothing more than a tool. A living, breathing weapon.

Could death be worse than an existence like that?

A gigantic chunk of ice smashed into the Bewilderbeast's right wing, nearly tearing the leathery appendage clean off his shoulder and drawing a bellow of pain as his thrashing increase. His massive body collided with one of the walls, and the quaking of that strike only further hastened the collapse of the structure. Spear-like stalactites rained down like volleys of arrows from giant bows, shattering into hundreds of shards that flew every direction. The very ground shook as it, too, began to crumble and slide.

Through it all, Drago clung stubbornly to his dragon. For there was one thing left to do.

Drago was a ruthless opponent, one who almost always found a way to win his battles, whether by being stronger, smarter, or less honorable than his adversaries. Even when he lost, and was forced to retreat from a battle, he would never leave any opponent unscathed.

And, with this battle, like any other, he would do the same to the one person who had destroyed him. The one person whom he had spent years hearing of, and the person whom he had dreamt to lead his army. The person whom had had become obsessed with capturing, and in doing so, he had created his own downfall.

If Drago Bludvist was to die, at least it would be said that he took down his greatest enemy with him.

"DESTROY THEM!" Drago roared at the top of his lungs, even as he pointed his bullhook straight at the fleeing dragon riders.

The Bewildebeast, out of pure instinct, did as it was commanded. The riders were far away, but not entirely out of range.

One last time, Drago's Bewilderbeast filled its lungs with cold air, then unleashed a blast of ice like no other.

The Valkyrie was very far away at that point.

But not far enough to escape the king of dragons.

* * *

Never had there been such a terrific blast of icy power. It raced through the air with a speed that far exceeded a diving flacon, and nothing at all was able to impede its progress. Obstacles in its path where not simply frozen over. They were blasted apart by the sheer force and weight of that all-powerful blast simply smashed those obstacles into oblivion.

Astrid saw it all coming with mounting horror.

There was no way that she could avoid it. Stormfly dodged to one side, she would lose too much momentum, and they would never make it out in time. If she kept true to her course, she would be she would be struck, unquestionably. There was no doubt. It's aim was true, straight for the entrance which Astrid herself now flew for.

Toothless shot through the exit. Astrid made no move to change course.

Cloudjumper went through a moment later, and Astrid torn by indecisiveness, gave no signal for Stormfly to alter course.

The ice blast was only moments away from them, but the exit was so teasingly close…

And then it was too late. Too caught up wondering whether or not she should change course or not, she now knew there would be no escape. She and Stormfly both were done for. The icy blast close upon them in a blink of an eye.

Time seemed to slow as Astrid closed her eyes, until a single moment stretched onwards into an unbearable eternity. Astrid saw her life stretch onwards behind her, one event after another, a long line of happy memories, unforgettable moments, and dark regrets. She saw it all, every even that had made her whom she was. She saw herself being taken away by Cloudjumper. She saw herself meeting Valka, and Stormfly, and all the dragons of the sanctuary. She saw herself growing up, changing form a frightened little girl into a woman, a woman who had become known as the Valkyrie. She saw it all, every enemy she fought, every foe she battled, every single defining moment of her entire life.

_Well_

_Well then. _

Of all the way she figured she would someday die, she never imagined it would be like this. Within her own home, frozen into a solid block of ice, fighting to take down the epitome of everything she had battled against for over a decade. Day after day, she had told herself that it was not her time, that this day would not be the one to end her. The odds were ever against her, and this day, they finally caught up to her.

If there was anything she could have changed about her death, it would have been to not have to share her end with Stormfly.

Time resumed its normal pace. The icy rushed towards her and Stormfly.

But something massive and black slammed into them, sending the two of them spiraling out of the exit as the black shape was blasted by ice instead. Unlike all the other obstacles, the ice could not blast through this shape, this living shield that imposed itself between Astrid and Stormfly.

Astrid only got the barest glimpse of that shape, before she and her dragon tumbled out the exit, just as the roof of the sanctuary caved in, and the Dragon's nest was no more.

But that tiny glimpse of her rescuer had been enough. A dragon rider, upon a huge black dragon. No, not a black dragon, but a dragon covered in black, boney armor.

Blade and Shade had sacrificed themselves to save Astrid.

"NOO!" Astrid yelled. Even as Stormfly touched down lightly upon the frosted stones outside the sanctuary. She leapt off of Stormfly's back, and ran over to the wall of what now remained of the sanctuary. She fell to her knees, and pounded futilely against the icy wall with her fists.

"NO! IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE YOU! PLEASE! I MADE A PROMISE!"

She slumped down to the ground, panting for breath, her fists clenched at her sides.

"I made a promise… it was all my fault….."

* * *

With the destruction of their leader, and his massive dragon, the moral of Drago's army was shattered. Men who had been forced into following Drago into battle through duress and threats now ran, wanting nothing to do with the battle anymore. Those who followed Drago in the belief that he was invincible now ran in sheer terror, believing anyone who could defeat him was beyond them.

And of course, hundreds upon hundreds of dragons were suddenly free of the alpha's control, and free to take it out on those who had once abused them.

Before long, what was left of Drago's forces were scattered back to their boats, frantically trying to put as much distance between them and the accursed island as they could. All was left quiet, and the sudden silence was more deafening than a Bewilderbeast's roar.

The battle of the Dragon's Nest was over. But there were no victors.

For there were too many cold, unmoving bodies that had fallen upon the field of battle. And, because of the trap Astrid had used to bring down Drago, the ancient Sanctuary, a home of dragons for decades, was now gone.

There were no victors, for the price was much too high.

The evening after the battle, Hiccup found Astrid still sitting in front mountain of collapsed ice that had once been her home. The other Vikings had all banded together around fires, huddling close for warmth on that chilling night. There was still enough suspicion and hate between the Vikings of Berk and the dragons that they kept separate from each other, but at least no one was drawing blood.

Probably because no one had the stomach for any more battles so soon.

But Astrid chose to stay apart from everyone else. She kept her silent vigil over the ruins of her former home, with only Stormfly to keep her company.

Until Hiccup found them.

"Astrid?" he called quietly "You mom was looking for you, after the battle. You know, you _mom _mom, not my mom. Have you been here this whole time?"

"Yes" Astrid answered curtly, with only the faintest of quivers in her voice betraying her composure "I'm sorry if you were all worried. You head back, I'll be there in a minute."

But Hiccup was not so easily deterred. He moved over to her side and sat down beside her, wrapping one arm around the back of Astrid's shoulders.

"Hey, we've all lost friends or family here. It doesn't help to try and take on the grief alone. Talk to me."

Astrid's expression remained stony, but her eyes shone with unshed tears.

"I killed him, Hiccup. It was my fault, as surely as if I had shoved a dagger through his heart."

"Astrid, what-"

"Before the battle" she interrupted, seeming not to be hearing Hiccup. "He told you about how I didn't save his village when I had the chance. He told me the same story, right before Drago's troops arrived. And then I told him what really happened."

Hiccup's face twisted in confusion, but he let her continue on.

"What I assume he told you was that his village received word that they were about to be attacked, and that I, the Valkyrie, confronted their leader, Nar Gabour the Wicked, and defeated him. I threatened him, promising him that if he ever returned, I would kill him. And so, he left."

"But then, after Blade left for his right of passage, Nar Gabour ignored my warning and returned, wiping out Blade's village. And I knew, even if I defeated that warlord again, that I couldn't carry through with my promise of killing him."

"But what Blade did not know, is that, before Nar arrived to wipe out his village, I met with the chief of Blade's tribe in secret. I kept my identity secret, but I urged him to flee from his island, to take all of his people and run to a far off land, a place where they might be safer. Initially, he refused, and I was forced to reveal I was the Valkyrie, for his tribe looked up to me as a hero, as Blade told you. I got him to agree, and in exchange, I promised that once they left, I would make sure there was nothing for Nar Garbour to take from their former village when he arrived."

"And so, when the Fire Stone Tribe had taken everything they could carry with them and set off to find their new home, Stormfly and I fulfilled our promise. Nar Garbour and his forces arrived two days later, but there was nothing left to plunder. Everything valuable had been stripped away, and Stormfly and I had burned the rest of it to the ground."

"When I told Blade about all of this, I was amazed by his reaction. At first he was skeptical, thinking I had made the whole story up, but then I made him a promise that, when everything was sorted out here, I would take him to the new island his tribe had claimed for itself, that he might be reunited with his family. After he was sure that promise was sincere, he said I had more than earned his forgiveness. I had also earned his apology for how he had treated me. For even though I, quite literally, destroyed his village, I saved his people."

"And because I told him that, he s-sacrificed himself for me."

Astrid drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, seemingly deflating for a brief moment. The story, once shared, had taken a lot out of her, and for a moment, she allowed herself to lean on Hiccup, feeling his comforting presence surround her, support her, and hold her.

"Astrid" He whispered, so very softly, so very gently. "Blade's death was not your fault."

"But-"

Hiccup put a finger over her mouth, silencing her.

"No. Astrid, hear me out. Blade made his own choices. If you blame his death on yourself, you are dishonoring the sacrifice he made. It was his choice, and he made it with a clear mind. So don't even think about blaming yourself. You can't change what happened, and if Blade could, I'm sure he wouldn't have taken back what he did for a second."

"You really think so?"

Hiccup pulled her closer to him, then placed a gentle kiss upon her forehead.

"Absolutely."

And so the pair of them stayed there for a while, secure and safe in each other's arms. No more words were exchanged for a long, long while, for each knew that words were not wanted or needed at a time like this.

But the moment couldn't, and wouldn't last indefinitely.

"Let's go back, Astrid."

This time she made no move to protest.

"Should we stay with the dragons, or the other Vikings." Hiccup asked. He wanted to see what Astrid thought before giving his own opinion.

Astrid looked back and forth between the two groups, and then was silent for a long moment. Hiccup didn't say anything, letting her have time to think.

"I….I think that there shouldn't have to be a choice. Both dragons and Vikings were diminished by this battle, and in order to survive, they will need to work together through the coming seasons. It won't be easy, but one day… one day soon, there will only be one camp to set up. Where humans and dragons will live together."

Hiccup smiled. That was exactly what he had been hoping to hear.

"Times are changing" Astrid continued. "I didn't see that before, but I do now. We need to change with them."

She turned to face Hiccup fully.

"You and me, together…. We are going to make that change."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Hiccup responded.

The two of them then shared a slow, tender kiss, there, under the light of the moon, ready to bring about a new age, and a new story.

Of course, both Toothless and Stormfly decided to but in on the private moment at that time, both pushing their riders with their snouts until they tumbled down into the snow.

"Toothless!"

"Stormly!"

The two of their dragons looked rather smug, but Hiccup and Astrid felt no real anger towards their dragons at that moment. Their mock scowls were betrayed by their laughter, and when the Stormfly and Toothless moved to help their riders up, they were both greeted with big, warm hugs.

After all, Hiccup and Astrid had both said they wouldn't have it any other way.

And they had meant it.

* * *

_**THE END.**_

**_Almost..._**


	43. Epilogue: Valkyrie's Rest

**There is something important I want you to read at the very end of this chapter. Just some thoughts I'd like to share, so please, don't skip it!**

* * *

_I was once asked about whether or not I believed in the gods, and I found that question to be a difficult one to answer. _

_You see, when I was younger, I was taught about the gods of my people, of Thor, of Loki, and of Odin. These, I was told, were the true gods, the gods to whom I should pray, to whom I must pray, for the health of my eternal soul. The only gods._

_But my unique upbringing has given me a different perspective. _

_Among my time at the Sanctuary, and my travels after words, I came across many strange and amazing views of religion. Some differed from others only slightly, while some differed in ways so vast they seemed almost to be opposites. Some of them demanded sacrifices of life, land, or wealth to appease their gods, while others demanded that their followers hoard their wealth, becoming rich and powerful so that they might influence the world and make it a better place. _

_All of them have one thing in common, however. Each and every religion believes in some higher power, and in that single, all powerful edict, I find myself in complete agreement. _

_I believe there is a correct religion. I just have no idea which one it is. _

_For surely we had to be created by something, or someone, that existed before us. Everything we know has a beginning, so what could have existed before the beginning of our world? Only a god, or gods, who have no beginning and no end, who exist outside of time all together. _

_That begin said, it still doesn't answer the question. Who's religion is the correct one?_

_I am not a preacher come to convert people to a new faith, but I believe that many religions are, at least partially, incorrect in the teachings. It is the height of human arrogance to assume that we know the designs and desires of beings who exist outside of existence itself, unless they spoke to or were inspired by such beings. Humans are fallible, and humans created religion, so therefore, religion must be fallible. The gods, or god, who created us made humans who were imperfect, perhaps in the assumption that we would have a thousand different interpretations of what they were. _

_There comes to true beauty of differing faiths. _

_For the religions I have seen around the world, most often, push people towards kindness, towards generosity, towards love. Rarely is there a religion based on hatred and violence that lasts more than a few years, if it even picks up a following. Others, those that speak of generous, loving gods, have withstood the test time, are as old faith itself. They were here long before I was born, and they will be here long after I am gone. _

_These long lasting religions, I believe, each hold a piece, or incarnation of the truth, for surely we humans were made to live in community and love with one another. It is in working together that we find our greatest accomplishments. Fighting one another and harboring hatred brings only misery and destruction where there are no winners._

_So to you, dear reader, whatever your faith, I offer only one piece of advice. Follow your heart, more than any doctrine. Let the teachings of your faith guide you conscience, but never let it blind you from doing what you believe is right. You may-no you will- make wrong choices throughout the course life, but you must learn to forgive yourself and grow from those experiences. The higher powers in our world, whatever they may be, have given humans a conscience for a reason, and that is to learn the difference between right and wrong. When we have learned, we will grow, and become stronger, spiritually speaking, than ever before. _

_When we accept that, we will find true happiness._

_May your god, or gods, be with you…_

_-Astrid Hofferson, Dragon Rider._

* * *

_**Several weeks after the battle of the Dragon Sanctuary. **_

All was quiet on the island that had once been the dragon sanctuary. With the nest itself decimated, nothing lived there anymore. What had once been a lush, fertile place was now nothing more than a large graveyard.

Nothing lived there anymore… save one person.

He was a beaten man, broken, weak, without hope. Only weeks ago he had been at the head of the greatest army the world had ever seen. Now he was fighting to find enough food and fresh water to survive.

This man was Erik, and he was more furious than ever.

The potions given to him by dragon that had enhanced his strength should have killed him weeks, ago. Indeed, a weaker man might have died, but Erik refused to let his body expire. The poison had left him weak in body, so terribly weak, but he had stubbornly refused to die. For his task was not yet finished.

Astrid was still free and alive. And Erik no longer had the strength to fight her directly. He might never recover his full strength again.

But one day, he would have his revenge. Even if it took him years, he would have it. Even if it took a dozen failures, he would hurt her the way she had hurt him.

No matter the cost…

* * *

Thrax, son of Korgan the Bonecrusher, new chief of the Fire Stone Tribe, shifted in his seat, alert and suddenly attentive.

It was dark in the great hall of his tribe that night, for barely a sliver of the moon shone, and the torches had been put out earlier that evening. One by one, the rest of the tribe had filtered out, back to their homes, but Thrax had stayed. He liked to alone with his thoughts.

When he saw some flicker of movement in the shadows of the corner, he figured that might not have been such a bright idea.

Thrax reached for his mace at his side, but didn't grasp it quit yet. He had dealt with more than one assassin who had gotten past his guards before, and he could tell there was something different about this one.

His suspicions were confirmed when the intruder brought out a small, lit touch.

Form that light, Thrax could tell little of his unexpected visitor. They wore a long, scarlet cape and dark hood that concealed their identity, to the point where he couldn't tell if they were male or female. The hand that held the touch was held high, while the other hand was concealed form view.

"You are either a very poor assassin, or not an assassin at all."

"The latter. I have no desire for violence" the stranger replied. The voice was quiet, gentle, and undeniably feminine.

"I have come to return something" she continued "Though, I expected a different chief to be sitting there when I came last. Tell me, how fares your father?"

Thrax was taken aback for a moment. If this stranger had met with his father before, he had made no mention of it to his own son. The sincerity in this strangers voice, though, was strong. Why would Thrax's father keep a secret from him?

"My father gave control of the tribe to me" Thrax replied. "And I don't appreciate some stranger whom I have never met coming in here to chat about him like he's an old friend. Mind telling me who you are?"

"Who I am is not important. My purpose, though was to give you this."

Thrax was about to retort again, but his breath was stolen away as the stranger drew out a sword from under her cloak. It was a sword he knew, one he knew well.

And what a sword it was! Fully five feet in length from pommel t tip, and every inch of it was made of a pure black metal, which had hardly bore and scratch or sign of wear after years of use. The crosspiece was as long as the strangers forearm, and the blade was nearly as wide as her entire hand.

"This sword belonged to a warrior I knew. He died honorably, and so I believed that his family would wish to have it."

She handed the sword reverently to Thrax, who took it with trembling finger. He checked it over one more time, just to confirm what he already believed.

Yes, this was indeed his brother's sword.

"Thank you, stranger. But ho-"

Thrax looked up, but the torchlight, and the girl, were both gone.

"Guards!" he yelled, even as he burst out the doors of the great hall. The two men posted there looked at him in confusion.

"Guards, where is that girl? Did you not see her come out?"

"Sir?" One of the men said, confused "There was no one, and this is the only entrance. No one was in there except for you."

Thrax sighed in frustration.

"Sir" The guard asked again, concern in his voice "are you alright?"

Thrax took a deep breath. The sword in his hand was real enough, and that meant someone had indeed been there. But there were also no other exits out of the great hall that he knew of. No matter how stealthy someone was, there was no way-

"What? Did you see that!?" Thrax suddenly exclaimed, pointing up to the sky.

Both the guards looked a little worried at this.

"Sir, there is nothing there. Are you sure you're alright?"

Thrax rubbed his head. Maybe he was seeing things after all. For just an instant, across the face of the tiny sliver of moon, Thrax could have sworn he saw a flying shape.

The shape of a dragon.

He looked down at the sword in his hands. And wondered.

* * *

_**Song of the Mortal Valkyrie:**_

_When times of war were times of the now_

_When sword and axe replaces the plow_

_A girl was born to parents kindly_

_The Child, the mortal Valkyrie_

_Stolen from home, this child was taken_

_A chance for her true self to awaken_

_For in her new home, she was so blessed_

_With a chance to start her lifelong quest_

_Long she trained, and fought, learned_

_Her friends she helped, and foes she burned_

_But in her heart she craved something more_

_A hunger unquenched within her core. _

_When once again, she saw her past_

_A mirror, a mystery, a secret vast_

_When she found the truth of heart_

_It pierced her like a wicked dart_

_For she knew then that she was wrong_

_For she lived where she did not belong_

_Old friends she found, old friends she fought_

_New lessons she learned, old ones she taught_

_When dust had settled and all was still_

_The girl then stopped, unable to kill_

_And thus the Valkyrie went to her rest_

_For she had passed her final test_

_But when mortals find their gods hath forsaken_

_Then once again shall this dark side awaken_

_Such is the story of the girl so divinely _

_The tale of the mortal Valkyrie_

* * *

**Here is the true end to this story, and there is a few things I would like to say before I am ready to let it go. I don't know how to say it any way other than plainly, so plainly is how I am going to say it.**

** When I began this story, way back in the month of January, I didn't know it would receive this much response. To some people, the amount of response I have gotten might not be considered much, but it means the whole world to me. Every time I saw that I had gotten a review, a follow, or a favorite on my story, it made my day brighter. **

** Of course, I only did a small fraction of the work needed for this story. There was you guys, always supporting me to write more, to do better, to push myself to new heights. There was my brother, who helped me come up with ideas, even though he didn't even know about this. And of course, there was Dreamworks, who created the amazing story of How To Train Your Dragon.**

** Yes, the original inspiration came from Dreamworks. Someone once told me that the best story is the one you want to experience again as soon as you finished it, and since I first saw How To Train Your Dragon in the theatre, that has what it has been for me. A story that I could never grow tired of. A story I never wished would end. **

** I can never replace How To Train Your Dragon. But I hope that, one day, through my writing, I can share some of that same feeling with others. I hope that I can write something that truly touches peoples hearts around the world, and lets them feel what I felt that day I first saw the movie that touched my heart so profoundly. **

**Thank you Dreamworks. And thank you to every person out there who ever read, followed, favorited, or reviewed my story. It really meant everything to me to know I have such awesome people who want to read what I have written...**

** (Take a deep breath, wipe the tears from your eyes, and get on with the last announcement)**

**Now, I know have all been waiting patiently for the sequel to this story, and it is finally that time! The first chapter will hopefully be up before this coming weekend, and I can't wait to get started! SO EXCITED!**

** Oh, and I almost forgot. **

**THE END!**

**Have a good one folks, and I'll be back soon!**


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